Mr. RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what provisions are in place to ensure that arms exported from the UK are not brokered to a third country; and if he will make a statement. [137000]
§ Mr. HainThe Government are continually seeking to strengthen further their monitoring of the end-use of defence exports to prevent diversion to third parties. The Government have already taken a number of steps to strengthen risk assessment at the licensing stage and to improve the sharing of information on end-users of concern with like-minded countries. For example, the UK regularly seeks additional details of proposed end-use and end-users, including through our overseas posts, in order better to assess particular export licence applications.
It would be neither practical nor useful to monitor the end-use of all strategic goods exported from the UK over their lifetime with the end-user, particularly when we have already taken steps to satisfy ourselves of the end-user's reliability and integrity before issuing a licence. Post-export monitoring cannot in itself prevent equipment from being diverted or misused, although it may help to inform future licensing decisions. Such monitoring is extremely resource-intensive and generally requires a degree of technical expertise on the part of those involved.
Nevertheless, the UK is prepared to undertake monitoring of equipment in the recipient country in certain circumstances where the Government believe that such monitoring would genuinely add value to its efforts to minimise the risk of diversion. Several examples of such post-export monitoring are contained in the Government's 1999 Annual Report on Strategic Export Controls, copies of which are in the Libraries of the House.
At present the Government have powers to control only trafficking and brokering of defence equipment under the United Nations Act 1946 where this is necessary to implement a binding United Nations decision. However, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry announced on 28 September that the Government have decided to introduce a system of licensing for arms trafficking and brokering. This will go significantly further than the proposals on trafficking and brokering in the 1998 White Paper on Strategic Export Controls. Full details of the Government's proposals on trafficking and brokering will 283W be set out when the Government announce their proposals for new export control legislation following conclusion of the White Paper review.