§ Mr. Batisteasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will refer to the Director General of Fair Trading the conduct of IBM, Rank Xerox, Texas 1006W Instruments and General Instrument Microelectronics Ltd. in seeking to enforce in the United Kingdom United States export regulations on high technology products.
§ Mr. ChannonThere does not appear to me to be an appropriate matter for investigation by the Director General of Fair Trading.
§ Mr. Batisteasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is Her Majesty's Government's policy concerning the need for licensing of high technology products (a) for domestic use, (b) for export to Europe, (c) for export to the Third world and (d) for export to the Communist bloc.
§ Mr. ChannonIn common with its NATO allies, the Government impose restrictions on the export to Warsaw Pact countries and China of products agreed to be strategically sensitive and, in order to prevent the diversion of such products to those destinations, controls their export to other countries. The Government do not license the use of such products within the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Batisteasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations Her Majesty's Government have made to the United States Government concerning the extraterritorial application of their export regulations for high technology products; and what responses have been received.
§ Mr. ChannonIn a number of contacts with senior members of the US Administration in the past year, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have emphasised our serious concern over the problem of the extraterritorial application of US export controls as they affect all products. Together with America's other allies, we have been urging the US Administration and Congress to get at the root of the problem by excluding from any successor legislation to the Export Administration Act 1979 provisions for the extraterritorial imposition of US controls. The US Congress however has yet to agree a new Act. Despite their differences of principle, both Governments are anxious to find practical means of preventing or reducing disputes arising from US claims to extraterritorial jurisdiction.
§ Mr. Batisteasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information he has as to which British companies pursuing transactions, legal under British law, have been fined by the United States Government for breaches of the United States export regulations on high technology products; what is Her Majesty's Government's policy in this regard; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ChannonI am not aware of any recent case in which a British company has been fined by the US authorities in the circumstances described by my hon. Friend. The Government's view is that the United States is entitled to enforce its laws which control exports from US territory; but that exports from the United Kingdom are governed by United Kingdom law alone.