Export Licences (Hansard, 10 January 2001)

§ Mr. Hain

[holding answer 8 January 2001]: Licences to export arms and other goods whose export is controlled for strategic reasons are issued by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry acting through the Export Control Organisation (ECO). All relevant individual licence applications are circulated by the Department of Trade and Industry to other Government Departments with an 559W interest as determined by those Departments in line with their policy responsibilities. These include the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ministry of Defence and the Department for International Development. These Departments give advice to the Department of Trade and Industry on whether the application should be approved or refused, in accordance with the consolidated European Union and national export licensing criteria I announced on 26 October 2000, Official Report, columns 199–203W.

Export licensing is a joined-up process. Officials in the FCO are in contact with officials in other Government Departments, including the DTI, on a daily basis, and there is an inter-departmental steering group that meets regularly to discuss export control issues. There are also regular meetings between officials in the main Departments to identify specific ways of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the export licensing system, as well as to discuss particular licence applications.

Government Departments have worked together since 2 May 1997 to publish Annual Reports on Strategic Export Controls. Three such reports have been published so far: copies are in the Library of the House.

Details of the roles and responsibilities of the Government Departments involved in the export licensing process have been set out in a Memorandum from the FCO and DTI to the "Quadripartite" Committee (Defence, Foreign Affairs, International Development and Trade and Industry), published on 15 June 1999 (HC540).