Arms Embargoes (Hansard, 20 March 1997)

§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Chalker of Wallasey)

The United Kingdom currently enforces 17 arms embargoes. Under the United Nations Charter, we have a legally binding obligation to enforce arms embargoes imposed by the Security Council under Article 41 of the Charter. Other embargoes are imposed on a national basis or following agreement within the European Union (EU) or the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (formerly CSCE).

Under UK law, binding UN embargoes are implemented by prohibiting the export of goods and technology on the Military List which forms Part III to Schedule 1 of the Export of Goods (Control) Order 1994, as amended by the Export of Goods (Control) (Amendment No. 2) Order 1996. In addition, the supply of such items from the UK or supply abroad by UK registered companies and nationals is prohibited by Orders in Council under the United Nations Act (1946). From time to time, the contents of the Military List may change—for example, to reflect technological advances or continuing international efforts to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Orders in Council extend such embargoes to the Crown Dependencies and the Dependent Territories. A licence is required for each export or supply from the UK or abroad by a UK registered company or national.

National embargoes and those agreed in the EU and the OSCE prohibit only the export of goods covered by the embargo. With the exception of the embargoes on China and Iran, the UK interprets the scope of all such embargoes to cover goods and technology on the Military List as defined above.

Companies are free to submit applications to export goods to any embargoed destinations. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), as the licensing authority, normally refuses such applications where the goods come within the scope of the embargo. But in exceptional circumstances, the DTI might decide, after consultation with advisory departments, to grant a licence to export such goods to an embargoed destination, for example for humanitarian purposes.

The UK has an end-use (or catch-all) control under which any goods may be brought under control if there is knowledge or grounds for suspicion that they might be used for activities linked to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or missiles for their delivery. But other goods, which are not normally controlled, do not become subject to control solely because they are to be used by the military, whether or not the destination concerned is subject to an embargo.

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There are currently six binding UN arms embargoes:

Angola (a), Iraq (b), Liberia (c), Libya (d), Rwanda (e) and Somalia (f).

There are currently seven EU embargoes:

Afghanistan (g), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (h), Burma (i), China (j), Nigeria (k), Sudan (I) and Zaire (m).

The UK currently implements two embargoes as a result of decisions by the OSCE:

Armenia (n) and Azerbaijan (o).

There are currently two national embargoes:

Argentina (p) and Iran (q).

We shall keep the House informed of current arms embargoes and their scope on a yearly basis. All new embargoes or any amendments to existing embargoes will be announced at the time. We shall also shortly be laying in the Library of the House a list of all UK policy commitments to control strategic exports, including embargoes. An updated version will be laid in the Library annually (or more frequently if policy changes require a revision). This statement will also be used to inform British industry.

Footnotes:

(a) Implemented in the UK on 1 October 1993. Products covered by the scope of the embargo can be supplied to the Government of Angola under licence, as long as they are imported through certain named points of entry into Angola:
(b) Implemented in the UK on 9 August 1990 as part of comprehensive trade sanctions;
(c) Implemented in the UK on 22 July 1993;
(d) Implemented in the UK on 15 April 1992 as part of a range of sanctions (following an EU arms embargo imposed on 14 April 1986);
(e) Implemented in the UK on 24 June 1994. The embargo does not apply to the sale or supply of arms and related material if under licence to the Government of Rwanda. But it does cover the sale or supply of arms and material to persons in states neighbouring Rwanda (i.e. Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zaire) if that sale or supply is for the purpose of the use of such arms or material within Rwanda;
(f) Implemented in the UK on 22 July 1993;
(g) Implemented in the UK on 17 December 1996;
(h) Implemented in the UK on 26 February 1996. This embargo does not extend to transfers of equipment needed for demining activities;
(i) Implemented in the UK on 29 July 1991;
(j) Implemented in the UK on 26 June 1989 (although a national embargo was announced on 6 June 1989). In the absence of agreement amongst EU partners on its scope, interpretation of the embargo was left to national discretion. As announced on 4 April 1995, the UK interprets this embargo to include:

—lethal weapons such as machine guns, large calibre weapons, bombs, torpedoes, rockets and missiles; —specially designed components of the above, and ammunition; —military aircraft and helicopters, vessels of war, armoured fighting vehicles and other such weapons platforms; —any equipment which is likely to be used for internal repression. 77WA

(k) Implemented in the UK on 20 November 1995 (although a national embargo was announced on 11 November 1995);
(l) Implemented in the UK on 15 March 1994;
(m) Implemented in the UK on 7 April 1993;
(n) Implemented in the UK on 28 February 1992;
(o) Implemented in the UK on 28 February 1992;
(p) Implemented on 3 April 1982;
(q) Implemented on 1 March 1993. The scope of this embargo also covers items entered in Group O in Annex 1 of European Council Decision 94/942/CFSP on the export of dual-use goods, as amended. There are two exceptions to this embargo:

—goods essential for the safety of civil aircraft and air traffic control systems; —radioactive material in the form of sources for medical equipment and deuterium labelled compounds for medical use. Licences for any equipment (including the exceptions to the complete ban mentioned above) are not approved where there is knowledge or reason to suspect that it would go to a military end-user or be used for military purposes.