Further memorandum from the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office
QUARTERLY REPORT
FOR JANUARY
TO MARCH
2006
SECTION A: QUESTIONS
APPLYING TO
SEVERAL LICENSES
1. At several points—for example for
Afghanistan—the report contains an entry as follows "Good
specified in Part 1 of Schedule 1 to "the Order", excluding:
(1) Complete vehicles, vessels & aircraft; (2) Goods specified
by PL5001; (3) Chemicals specified in the Chemical Weapons Convention
(Schedule 1); (4) Equipment and components therefor for the dissemination
of chemicals in (3)—as above; (5) Anti-personnel landmines
and components therefor; (6) Goods specified in Category I of
the Missile Technology Control Regimes; (7) MANPADS and components
therefor; (8) Components for Unmanned Airborne Vehicles; (9) Nuclear
explosive devices and materials; (10) Enriched Boron; (11) Nuclear
power generating or propulsion equipment; (12) Nuclear reactors;
(13) test models for the development of items listed above; (14)
Equipment for the production of items listed above, and; (15)
Software and technology for the development, production or use
of items listed above." Can you please list the items covered
by the entry, rather than those not covered?
The example quoted in the context of Afghanistan,
refers to one OIEL that covers an extensive list of goods to a
number of destinations, and is for the use of the US Government
within each destination. The exporter applied for a licence that
covered all items within the Military List with a specific list
of items to be excluded. As the Military List covers an extensive
range of equipment, accessories, components, and other items,
it would have been an extensive task to assign all the possible
applicable summaries to this particular licence. A complete breakdown
of the summaries would have covered several pages per destination,
which would have made it unusable to the casual reader, and the
report much larger. For this reason a compromise on the way in
which the data was to be presented had to be made, and it was
felt that this was the least cumbersome way of doing this. There
are very few OIELs where this situation arises and the ECO will
try, wherever possible, to use the more descriptive summaries
as used for other OIELs and SIELs. As the Committee is aware,
we can provide further information to it on request on a case
by case basis.
***
5. The Committee would be grateful for more
information on the following licenses issued during the first
quarter (January to March) of 2006:
(a) Dealer to Dealer OIEL. The Committee
would be very grateful for a note explaining how the dealer to
dealer OIEL operates—in particular, how does the Government
police the operation of the OIEL, whether breaches would lead
to withdrawal of dealer licences, what other dealer to dealer
licenses are current, does the license apply to dealers exporting
or receiving arms in the Isle of Man, Channel Islands and Gibraltar?
Dealer to dealer OIELs operate in the same way
as all other open licenses but all exports must be to registered
firearms dealers in the receiving country, which must also be
an EC destination. Dealer licence holders are also required to
notify the Home Office prior to the export of any items on the
licence so that the receiving country is aware of the intended
import. The dealer license covers exports from the UK and the
Isle of Man. The Channel Islands and Gibraltar are not permitted
destinations on this type of licence, and separate licences would
be needed to cover these destinations. Once a licence has been
issued, the licence holder is subject to regular compliance visits.
Breaches of the conditions of a licence could result in the withdrawal
of any open licences (dealer to dealer OIELs included), and a
decision is taken on a case by case basis if remedial action is
required. Some dealers may have SIELs or other OIELs in addition,
or instead of, a dealer to dealer OIEL, depending on their business
needs.
(b) Dealer to Dealer OIEL: In detail,
this OIEL covers semi-automatic pistols, crowd control ammunition
and small arms ammunition. What arrangements are in place to ensure,
and to check, that goods exported from the UK to a country covered
by the OIEL (all EU countries) do not end up in the hands of an
end user in respect of whom an export licence would not have been
issued if the export had been directly from the UK and not via
a dealer in a third country?
One of the conditions on the licence states
that the consignee has to be a licensed firearms dealer. The onward
shipment from that dealer is the licensing responsibility of the
country in which the dealer is situated, in the same way that
any dealers in the UK who receive firearms from licensed firearms
dealers based in EC countries, will need appropriate license coverage
from the UK authorities before export from the UK.
***
(o) Serbia and Montenegro: OIEL no 3
for components for combat aircraft, components for military training
aircraft, ejector seats, components for ejector seats, equipment
for the use of ejector seats, test equipment for ejector seats,
equipment for the use of military parachutes, military parachutes,
components for military parachutes, signal flares.
The entry included here is incorrect and should
have read:
"laser range finders, components for laser
range finders, weapon sights, components for weapon sights, equipment
for the use of laser range finders, aiming devices, components
for aiming devices, military image intensifier equipment, night
vision goggles, components for night vision goggles, weapon sights,
equipment for the use of laser range finders"
***
SECTION C: OTHER
MATTERS
6. With the announcement of the accession
of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU in 2007 it would assist the
Committee to have a note setting out the FCO's assessment of the
nature, operation and effectiveness of these countries' export
controls, their defence industries and whether their exports comply
with the EU code. What discretion will the UK Government have
to decide whether or not to extend open licenses and licenses
such as the dealer to dealer licenses to cover Bulgaria and Romania?
All EU Member States are required to operate
effective export controls in line with the EU Code of Conduct.
We, and other Member States, have been working with Bulgaria and
Romania to help them to ensure that they meet these standards.
We will continue this work. However, if cases arise where we have
concerns over the application of export controls we will raise
them with the Bulgarian and Romanian governments, as we would
do with any EU Members State. It should also be noted that Bulgarian
and Romanian officials already participate in the EU COARM Working
Group on Conventional Export Controls, where they are exposed
to discussion of existing best practice. Romania's legislation
is currently being substantially amended to ensure export controls
will be operated strictly in line with EU procedures. The Bulgarian
Government is also committed to improving its existing export
control system.
The Government has discretion to vary a Dealer
to Dealer licence to include new Members States. The Government
can vary any of its open licences to narrow or widen the coverage,
be it goods and/or destinations, and at any point, to take account
of changing circumstances, Any changes to a strategic export control
licence will be notified to an exporter either as a letter of
variation or by the issue of a notice to exporters.
December 2006
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