Supplementary memorandum from HM Revenue
and Customs
This is in reply to your email of 13 June to
Scott Hudson in which you asked: "does HMRC have powers—for
example under anti-terrorism legislation—to seize non-controlled
goods where WMD end-use is suspected but the exporter is unaware
of the potential end-use?"
HMRC do not have powers to seize non-controlled
goods in cases where the exporter is not aware of nor suspects
WMD end-use.
Where HMRC identify non-controlled goods that
we suspect might be destined for WMD end-use, we have the power
to detain them under Article 20 of the Export of Goods, Transfer
of Technology and Provision of Technical Assistance (Control)
Order 2003 whilst DTI decides whether or not to invoke the end-use
catch-all control.
If DTI decide that goods require a licence on
end-use grounds, they inform the exporter and HMRC. We detain
the goods until the exporter either obtains an export licence,
or withdraws the goods from export.
The only cases where HMRC could seize the goods
(and, as we said in our first Memorandum, take offence action)
would be where there is evidence that the exporter already had
grounds to suspect that the goods were for a WMD use, or, having
been informed by the DTI that the goods cannot be exported without
a licence, the exporter subsequently attempted to do so.
Finally we should clarify that the control is
not so much based on the potential end-use of the goods but the
actual circumstances of the particular export.
June 2007
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