§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what progress has been made on the introduction of an EU-wide regulation covering export controls on certain dual-use goods and technologies.
§ Mr. Ian TaylorIn June 1994, member states agreed a text of a European regulation setting up a Community regime for the control of exports of dual-use goods. An associated inter-governmental decision in the form of a joint action under the common foreign and security policy provisions in the treaty on European Unity was also agreed. The decision covers a number of operational annexes listing controlled goods, destinations and guidelines to be taken into account by the authorities of all member states when considering export licence applications. The regulation and decision are due to apply on 1 January 1995.
In the period since June, member states have been finalising the contents of the annexes, and discussing practical aspects of the regulation with a view to ensuring uniform application throughout the Community.
The annexe to the decision listing controlled goods which will require a licence for export from the Community is lengthy and technical. The task of translating it into all Community languages is being undertaken primarily by the Commission's translation service in Brussels. A combination of last-minute changes to the contents of that annexe and difficulties in scheduling the translation has meant that the task is still unfinished. As a result, the formal adoption of the regulation and decision has been postponed from October.
The Commission has assured member states that all is being done to complete the translation work by the end of November, so that adoption can take place in early December, with implementation on 1 January 1995 as planned. We shall therefore know shortly if that timetable can be kept or whether implementation will have to be put back a little further in 1995.