Memorandum from Reed Exhibitions Ltd
1. Reed Exhibitions Ltd organises several
aerospace and defence exhibitions both in the UK and overseas.
Close liaison is maintained with the Ministry of Defence and the
Department of Trade and Industry to ensure compliance with current
Export Control legislation. Appropriate Trade Control licences
have been sought and obtained, mindful, in particular, of the
impact of recently introduced Controls on British citizens operating
extra-territorially.
2. Of the Reed Aerospace and Defence Group's
events held in the UK, the most significant is Defence Systems
and Equipment international (DSEi). The others are Helitech—a
helicopter exhibition aimed principally at the commercial operator,
ITEC—which covers military training and simulation, and
a new acquisition, APTS, which serves the security sector.
3. DSEi is a biennial international defence
exhibition staged at ExCeL, in London Docklands. The last was
held in September 2005, after the UK Export Control Act 2002 came
into effect. 1,201 companies (approximately half of which were
based in the UK) exhibited at DSEi 05: the event attracted approximately
25,000 international attendees, including over 50 Official Defence
Delegations, invited by HMG.
4. As the organiser of DSEi, Reed Exhibitions
made the following efforts to communicate the new legislation
to all exhibiting companies and visitors:
— An explanation of how the legislation
may affect individuals and companies was written into a pdf file
with links to the relevant sections on the DTI website. This was
translated into several languages and sent to all exhibiting companies.
The same information was shown on the DSEi website.
— Each company exhibiting at DSEi 05
was required to sign a statement of compliance with UK law and
UK's international undertakings, EU/UN law and EU/UN international
undertakings. An additional paragraph has been added to the 2007
exhibitor contract that refers specifically to the UK Export Control
Act 2002.
— An explanation of the new legislation
and the impact on exhibiting companies was included in the exhibitor
brochure and a flyer included in every access badge wallet sent
to all visitors and exhibitors.
5. During DSEI 05 two potential breaches
of the law were brought to Reed's attention. The appropriate authorities
were informed and the two offending exhibitors' stands were closed
down.
SUMMARY OF
IMPACT
6. The only significant impact of the Act
on Reed, as an organiser of defence exhibitions, has been the
time and effort required to understand the new legislation, to
interpret, translate and then communicate it to exhibitors and
visitors, and to handle the associated enquiries, particularly
from overseas companies.
November 2006
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