§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on what date his Department received export licence application number 8664; on what date he expects it to be determined; and if he will make a statement about its progress. [122037]
§ Dr. HowellsLicence Application 8664 was received by the Export Control Organisation (ECO) on 15 December 1999. The application is currently under consideration in conjunction with other Government Departments. A decision on the licence application will be reached as quickly as possible consistent with the need to give full consideration to the issues involved.
§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proposals he has to ensure that applications for export licences are published in advance, allowing for proper public and parliamentary debate before decisions are made. [121717]
§ Dr. HowellsThe 1998 White Paper on Strategic Export Controls proposed that new primary legislation should provide for parliamentary scrutiny of secondary export control legislation, but the White Paper stated that the Government did not consider there should be advance parliamentary scrutiny of individual export licence applications as this would slow down significantly the process of decision making and raise difficult issues of commercial confidentiality. The Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry Committees endorsed this conclusion while the Quadripartite Committee on Strategic Export Controls has stated that it will seek to come to conclusions on this issue in its next Report.
All the White Paper proposals are under review in the light of comments received. In coming to conclusions on this issue, the Government will take account also of the conclusions of the Committees, including any conclusions reached by the Quadripartite Committee on this matter. We will be announcing proposals for new export control legislation following conclusion of the review.