Memorandum from Bill Rammell MP, then
Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Further to my letter of 30 April, I'm now
writing with the answers to the remaining outstanding questions
from the Evidence Session on 22 April.
ISRAEL
(i) Has the Government refused any licence
applications, 2002 to present, for the supply of components
for F16s for use by Israeli Air Force?
Yes. HMG has refused ten applications, for the
supply of components for F16s direct to Israel for use by the
Israeli Air Force. Licence applications have been refused on a
number of grounds, including concerns under Criteria 2, 3, 4 and
6 of the EU and National Consolidated Licensing Criteria.
I would note at this point that export licence applications can
be refused using one or more of the criteria.
The details of the licences in question are
as follows: In 2003 two licences were refused (due to concerns
under Criteria 2, 3 and 4). One licence was refused in both
2004 and 2005 (on each occasion citing concerns under
Criteria 2, 3 and 4). In 2006 ten licences were refused
(citing concerns under Criteria 2, 3, 4 and additionally
Criteria 6). Finally in 2008 one licence was refused (on
concerns relating to Criteria 2 and 3).
(ii) Since 2002 to present there have been
a small number of licences granted for F16's and Apaches where,
although not going direct to Israel, we were aware that Israel
was the ultimate end-user. Could you provide details of the "small
number of licences", including dates when granted, where
the Government knew that Israel was ultimate end-user?
Details of the licences granted for F16 components
are as follows:
2002: One licence issued on 08/07/02;
2003: Two licences issued on 03/01/03 and
31/07/03;
2004: Two licences issued on 19/05/04 and
05/08/04;
2005: Three licences issued on 05/01/05, 20/10/05 and
03/11/05;
2006: One licence issued on 26/01/06.
Details of those licences granted for Apache
components are as follows:
2003: Two licences issued on 15/10/2003 and
29/10/2003;
2004: Two licences issued on 19/05/2004 and
23/09/2004;
2005: Five licences issued on 15/08/2004;
2006: One licence issued on 23/01/2006.
The review of extant licences to Israel is still
on-going, and we will inform the Committee once the outcome is
known.
RE -EXPORTS
(iii) Is it UK Policy that if a country to
which we exported arms were to re-export them to another country
subject to a UN or EU arms embargo, that would be the last time
an export licence was granted to them?
No. As I said during the session, future export
licence applications would be considered on a case-by-case basis
against the Criteria. Of course the past practices of the state
concerned would inform our assessment, under the Criteria, of
future export licence applications. If the recipient state had
re-exported goods in breach of UN or EU arms embargoes then that
would be taken into account under Criterion 6 (the behaviour
of the buyer country with regard to the international community
and respect for international law) and Criterion 7 (risk
that the equipment will be re-exported under undesirable conditions)
along with other applicable Criteria and the situation in the
destination country at the time of the application.
ANTI-VEHICLES
LAND-MINES
(iv) Please give us the names of the 19 countries
that went ahead and made a series of commitments, when international
consensus on a joint declaration could not be achieved at the
third review conference.
25 countries have now aligned themselves
with the statement, these are; Albania, Australia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, El Salvador,
Estonia, France, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands,
New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia,
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America.
A copy of the statement is attached.
11 May 2009
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