Arms Trade (Hansard, 1 December 1998)

§ Mr. Reed
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to ensure that the European Code of Conduct on the arms trade is adopted into UK law; and what plans he has to make arms brokering to arms embargoed countries a crime. [61492]

§ Mrs. Roche
The EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, which was an Anglo-French initiative, was adopted by the EU General Affairs Council on 8 June. However, as our own national arms export criteria are not legally binding, the UK Government felt that it would not have been appropriate or realistic to press our partners to sign up to a legally binding instrument to give effect to similar criteria at the EU level.
The Government already impose controls on trafficking and brokering under the United Nations Act 1946 where this is necessary to implement a binding United Nations decision. In addition, the White Paper on Strategic Export Controls, which was published on 1 July, contains proposals to extend controls on trafficking and brokering in several areas, including to countries subject to other types of embargo, whether as a result of non-binding decisions of the UN or decisions of the EU, Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe or the UK Government. This would mean that, as is already the case for binding UN arms embargoes, it would be an offence for persons in the UK or UK persons abroad to be involved in trafficking or brokering in controlled goods to countries subject to these other types of embargo, without a valid licence. The use of a licensing system, rather than imposing an outright ban, would enable the Government to sanction such transfers on the rare occasions that they are desirable (e.g. the transfer of equipment to peacekeeping forces in an embargoed destination).

§ Mr. Reed
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he intends to take to ensure that the Council of Ministers Working Group on arms exports agrees a common list of items be controlled by the EU Code. [61495]

§ Mr. Tony Lloyd
I have been asked to reply.
The CFSP Working Group on Conventional Arms Exports is taking forward work to agree a common list of military equipment covered by the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports. The UK is playing an active role in this work with a view to ensuring its successful conclusion.

§ Mr. Reed
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he intends to take to ensure that there is clear and transparent annual reporting of the different types and amounts of weapons covered by arms export licences granted and denied by(a) the UK and (b) other European Union countries. [61493]

§ Mr. Tony Lloyd
I have been asked to reply.
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The Government are preparing a report on UK strategic exports, which we will publish as soon as is possible. On the question of the content of the report, I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Dr. Jones) on 14 July 1998, Official Report, column 149.
Most other EU Member States already publish annual reports on their own defence exports. Once our own report has been published, we will consider how best to achieve similar levels of transparency in the information released by other Member States.