Further memorandum from the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office
Quarterly Report for July to September 2006
SECTION A: SPECIFIC
LICENSING DECISIONS
(QUARTER 3 (2006))
***
SECTION B: QUESTIONS
APPLYING TO
SEVERAL LICENCES
(QUARTER 3(2006))
2. How many of the licences in respect of
Thailand were granted after the military coup in September 2006?
Has the Government changed its assessment of the application of
the criteria for export licenses since the coup?
We issued 36 SIELs and 7 OIELs between 20 September
2006 and 8 February 2007 for Thailand. Our policy remains that
all export licence applications are assessed against the Consolidated
Criteria. Following the military coup on 19 September, all export
applications for Thailand continue to be considered on their merits
against these Criteria, on a case by case basis. The situation
is being kept under review.
3. In May 2006, it was reported that the
USA had imposed a full arms ban on Venezuela, claiming it had
failed to cooperate in the fight against terrorism (see the Guardian
16 May 2006). Has the UK Government changed its assessment of
the application of the criteria for the export licences to Venezuela
since May 2006?
Has the USA attempted to extend its extra-territorial
reach to prevent UK exports, which for example contain components
using technology developed or made in the US, to Venezuela?
All export licences to Venezuela are assessed
on a case by case basis against the Consolidated EU and National
Export Licensing Criteria at the time of application. If an application
is judged to be inconsistent with the Criteria, a licence will
not be issued.
We are not aware of any US attempts to extend
their extra-territorial reach to block UK exports.
***
5(e) What assessment has the Government made
of the operations and behaviour of the UAE Special Operations
Command?
All export licence applications are judged on
a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National
Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking into account the prevailing
circumstances in the country of end-use. The equipment in this
case was for the use of the UAE Special Operations Command. We
have no reports of any concerns over the operations and behaviour
of this end user, and as such had no concerns under the Criteria
regarding this export licence application.
SECTION D: OTHER
MATTERS
6. During compliance visits by ECO staff
in 2006 how many breaches of OIELs and OGELs were found? It would
assist the Committees to have a summary of the many types of breach.
How many breaches resulted in warning letters from the ECO? How
many were referred to HM Revenue and Customs and how many resulted
in action by Revenue and Customs?
During compliance visits in 2006, 202 companies
had breached the conditions of the open licences they were using.
This breaks down as follows:
| Unlicensed Shipments made
| 35 |
Incorrect or missing undertakings |
26 |
Problems with electronic transfers or trade controls
| 14 |
Company unsure of where their goods fall on the control list, so cannot confirm that they can use an OGEL
| 6 |
Problems with using OGELs (misunderstanding the licence, not having the correct supporting documents, not reading the licence)
| 64 |
Problems using OIELs (not understanding or reading the licence)
| 13 |
General lack of knowledge of UK Export controls leading to errors
| 44 |
| |
After each Compliance visit, a letter is sent to the company.
If any breaches are found, these are set out in the letter with
the remedial actions the company needs to take to be compliant.
The question of warning letters is being considered as part of
the compliance initiative mentioned in Q7 below. At least 26 breaches
were referred to HMRC, and many of theses are still being investigated.
Work is continuing in ECO on improving the quality of the information
we produce about breaches and the action taken against companies.
7. How many companies persistently in breach of open licences
have been "deregistered" and prevented from using OGELs?
At present, companies are not "de-registered" from
OGELs, This is because we have to date, taken the view that exports
under OGELs are by definition very low risk (ie exports for which
we would never refuse a licence). However, as part of an initiative
to tighten compliance generally, the ECO is looking with HMRC
at a range of additional enforcement options, on which it will
report to the Committee in due course.
February 2007
| 
