HL Deb 29 March 2001 vol 624 cc51-2WA
Baroness Gibson

asked Her Majesty's Government:

When they will publish the draft Export Control and Non-Proliferation Bill. [HL1451]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry is today publishing for consultation the draft Export Control and Non-Proliferation Bill. Copies of theConsultation on Draft Legislation: the Export Control and Non-Proliferation Bill (CM5091) will be laid before the House and will be available at the Vote Office. Copies will also be available from the Stationery Office and on my department's website.

The draft Bill replaces in full the export control powers in the Import, Export and Customs (Powers) Defence Act 1939. Export controls currently imposed under the 1939 Act include both strategic export controls, which are the responsibility of my department, and export controls on cultural objects, which are the responsibility of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The Bill is intended both to provide for improved accountability for and transparency in export controls and to provide a more up-to-date and comprehensive legislative framework for export controls.

The draft Bill establishes the purposes for which export controls can be imposed and will provide for parliamentary scrutiny of secondary legislation made under it. These measures will meet recommendations made by Sir Richard Scott in his report of the Inquiry into the Export of Defence Equipment and Dual-Use Goods to Iraq and Related Prosecutions. The Bill also provides for annual reports to be laid before Parliament.

The draft Bill provides the Government with new powers to impose controls on the transfer of military and dual-use technology by intangible means and the provision of related technical assistance, and on activities connected with international trade (usually referred to as trafficking and brokering) between overseas countries in military or dual-use equipment.

The Introduction to the Bill in Part I of the Consultation on Draft Legislation sets out the controls which the Government propose to introduce in secondary legislation to be made under these new powers. These are as follows:

  • Controls on the electronic transfer of military technology in line with similar controls already introduced for dual-use technology in the new European Dual-Use Items Regulation which came into force in September 2000.
  • Controls on the transfer of technology by any intangible means and the provision of technical services intended for weapons of mass destruction and related missile programmes. These controls will meet the requirements of a European Union Joint Action agreed in June 2000.
  • Controls on the trafficking and brokering of weapons and related equipment to any destination. In addition, controls will be introduced which will be used to prohibit trafficking and brokering to embargoed destinations and trafficking and brokering in types of equipment whose export we have already banned because of evidence of their use in torture.

The Bill will also allow for imposition of export licensing procedures and includes a power to require the provision of certain information which is intended primarily to ensure that the Government can meet its reporting obligations to international bodies, such as the UN Conventional Arms Register. The Bill allows for the maximum penalty for offences in respect of matters controlled under the powers in the Bill to be raised from the current maximum level of seven years' imprisonment to a maximum of 10 years.

Views are invited from all those with an interest in either strategic export controls or export controls on cultural objects by Thursday 24 May.