HL Deb 01 March 1993 vol 543 c26WA
The Earl of Kinnoull

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the outcome of their review of export licensing criteria for Iran, announced by the President of the Board of Trade on 17th December 1992.

Baroness Trumpington

The Government's consideration of the criteria that should be applied in exercising rigorous scrutiny of export licence applications for Iran is now complete. The Government have decided to apply henceforth the following criteria in considering applications for the export of licensable goods to Iran:

  1. (i) With two exceptions, we should not approve licences for any goods or technology on the Military or Atomic Energy Lists (Schedule 1, Part 3, Group 1 and 2) of the Export of Goods (Control) Order 1992 (as amended). The exceptions are:
    1. (a) goods essential for the safety of civil aircraft and air traffic control systems;
    2. (b) radioactive material in the form of sources for medical equipment and deuterium labelled compounds for medical use.
  2. (ii) We should not approve licences for any equipment (including the exceptions to the complete ban mentioned above) where there was knowledge or reason to suspect that it would go to a military end-user or be used for military purposes.

Existing export licences, approved under the old guidelines, will remain valid. We shall support efforts among supplier countries, in particular the G7 and our European partners, to promote a harmonised approach to effective controls on the export of dual use goods to countries of particular concern.