HL Deb 09 October 2000 vol 617 c2WA
Lord Tebbit

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether aero-engines supplied by Rolls Royce to Airbus for fitment to Airbus aircraft for export outside the European Union are counted in official trade statistics as exports to the European Union or as exports to the rest of the world. [HL3804]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

HM Customs & Excise are the department responsible for collecting trade statistics on the movement of goods with other countries including EC member states.

Customs do not publish details of an individual business's trading activities, for reasons of confidentiality. However, UK statistics on exports to other EC member states are produced on the basis of the declared member state of destination. These exports include goods exported from UK for further processing (including assembly) in other EC member states. If those processed goods are thereafter exported to countries outside the EC, they should be recorded as exports from that EC member state to the non-EC country of destination.