§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will introduce legislation to amend the system of licensing arms exports so that a person or company in the United Kingdom may arrange to export arms from a third country only if a licence is granted by the Department of Trade and Industry for this purpose, and whether they will consult with other 60WA states party to the Wassenaar Arrangement, with a view to extending notification of arms sales to cover supplies arranged by nationals of participating states from third countries.
§ The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Fraser of Carmyllie):In cases where the Security Council of the United Nations imposes an embargo on the sale of arms and military equipment, powers to control such items from a third country by a person or company in the UK already exist. Views were sought in the consultation document, Strategic Export Controls (Cm. 3349), presented to Parliament in July, on the extent to which any new legislation on strategic export controls should seek to control more generally trafficking in undesirable goods or the brokering of such deals by United Kingdom nationals or companies. The consultation closed at the end of October and the department is currently considering the responses and follow-up action to the consultation. Current procedures in relation to trafficking in arms are also being examined by the interdepartmental committee set up in response to the allegations that UK companies have been linked to the selling of arms to Rwandan extremists in Zaire. The committee's work in this area will contribute to the wider review of strategic export controls already under way. We have no plans to raise this issue with participating states in the Wassenaar Arrangement.