Supplementary memorandum from the Export
Group for Aerospace and Defence (EGAD)
The overall European Industry view is that the
proposed new dual-use EU regulations is a missed opportunity to
pursue real reform and amounts to little more than tinkering with
the current status quo. The real prize would have been the acceptance
of the much-proposed "certified company" concept in
which multi-national corporations with a proven record of compliance
are treated as a single entity for export controls purposes, regardless
of geographic location—only when goods/data leave that global
corporate entity does a licensable act occur. This proposal was
dismissed out of hand by the Commission in their response.
New proposed controls centre on brokering dual-use
goods, but only in the context of WMD, so the impact should be
limited for the vast majority of Industry.
Perhaps the greatest potential concern is the
proposed introduction in the new draft regulation of controls
on "intermediation" in the supply of dual-use items,
ie where one party in the EU is an intermediary for the export
by another EU party of dual-use items. There is no definition
of "intermediation", leaving open an awful lot of ground,
eg if a UK Chamber of Commerce introduces a non-EU company to
an EU company which then exports to the non-EU party, is that
"intermediation"? Is the transport company which carries
the goods an intermediary? What about the carrier of the freight
insurance? Intermediation could quite easily become a cottage
industry in its own right, whilst actually contributing little
or nothing to real world compliance or counter-proliferation.
A clear and concise harmonised definition across the EU of what
actually constitutes an act of "intermediation" is absolutely
essential.
There is mention of providing legal security
to EU exporters who, in accordance with EU law, export dual-use
goods over which jurisdiction is claimed by another country—this
will apparently be achieved by negotiating mutual recognition
of the respective export control regimes (Comment: it would be
interesting to know how long they perceive that this might take
to achieve!).
January 2007
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