§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the United Kingdom proposals for an EU Code of Conduct on Arms Sales include a system for parliamentary scrutiny and accountability in member states. [26972]
§ Mr. Tony LloydOur proposals for an EU Code of Conduct develop the EU's eight Common Criteria agreed in 1991 and 1992 using language in the UK's national criteria announced by my right hon. Friend, the Foreign Secretary on 28 July 1997,Official Report, columns 26–29. Those criteria did not include prior parliamentary scrutiny of licence applications and we are not proposing such a requirement in the Code of Conduct.
§ Mr. FaberTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the French Government concerning his proposed EU code of conduct on arms sales; and if he will make a statement. [26963]
§ Mr. Tony LloydFollowing a number of contacts at Ministerial and official level with the French Government, we have succeeded in agreeing on a draft text for an EU 543W Code of Conduct on arms sales. We have now circulated this draft to EU partners and look forward to discussing it with them in detail, with a view to having the Code adopted by Council Declaration during our Presidency of the EU.
The text which we have circulated develops the eight EU Common Criteria agreed at the Luxembourg and Lisbon European Councils of June 1991 and June 1992, using language from the UK's national criteria announced by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on 28 July 1997, Official Report, columns 26–29. It also includes a no-undercut mechanism which will involve notifying all partners of denials of export licences and provide for bilateral consultation if one partner is considering a similar export to that which another partner has refused.
If agreed, these measures will break important new ground in regulation of the arms trade. Never before has a no-undercut mechanism been applied to conventional arms exports.
§ Mr. FaberTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress he is making in agreeing on EU code of conduct on arms sales during the United Kingdom's presidency of the EU; and when he intends to publish the code. [26962]
§ Mr. Tony LloydI refer the hon. Member to my earlier answer. At present, the text of the Code of Conduct is being discussed by EU Member States. We will publish it as soon as final agreement has been reached.