§ Mr. Laurence RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department takes to ensure that the export of arms is to countries which will only use the arms for approved purposes; and if he will make a statement. [54904]
§ Mr. BradshawBritain has one of the strictest and most transparent arms export licensing systems of any country. We consider all export licence applications on a case by case basis against the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria. Our criteria clearly state that we will not issue licences where there is a clear risk that the experts might be used for either internal repression or external aggression.
The British Government has been in the forefront of international efforts to strengthen the regulation of the arms trade and proliferation. We were instrumental in getting agreement for an EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, and we regularly encourage other countries to adopt stricter and more transparent arms export policies. We are active members of all the key regimes that work to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, such as the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and the Australia Group (which deals with chemical and biological 246W weapons). And we are signatories to key arms control treaties, such as the Ottawa Convention on landmines, the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.
The UK's national export licensing criteria were set out in the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Neath (Mr. Peter Hain) to my hon. Friend the Member for Crawley (Laura Moffatt) on 26 October 2000, Official Report, column 199-203W.