Arms Exports (Hansard, 19 September 2003)

§ Jeremy Corbyn
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what export credit guarantee arrangements have been made to support the Defence Systems and Equipment Information exhibition held in London in September; and if she will make a statement. [129915]

§ Mr. Mike O'Brien
The ECGD has not made any arrangements to support the DSEI exhibition.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will take steps to ensure that end-user certificates used for arms exports carry(a) the serial numbers of the arms being exported, (b) the number 1065W of weapons to be transferred, (c) details of the transportation to be used to carry the shipment and (d) details of the route the shipment is to take. [131133]

§ Nigel Griffiths
End-user certificates must be consistent with the model format published on the Department of Trade and Industry's export control website. Precise details of information required on end-user certificates will vary depending on the nature of the proposed export and end-user. There are currently no plans to amend this format.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if, as part of her proposals for the secondary orders to the Export Control Act 2002, she will create a binding agreement with countries that receive arms exports from the UK that they will not reexport weapons of UK origin without first informing the UK Government. [131134]

§ Nigel Griffiths
The Government has no plans to introduce such binding agreements. The surest way to minimise the risk of UK arms being re-exported and ending up in the wrong hands is to carry out a rigorous assessment of export licence applications at the licensing stage.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information the Foreign Office passes to the export control organisations on emerging conflicts; and whether this information is then used for making decisions on reducing or ceasing shipments. [131138]

§ Nigel Griffiths
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office work very closely with the Department of Trade and Industry's Export Control Organisation, to keep them fully informed of any changes in circumstances that might affect export licensing decisions. The Export Control Organisation then establishes which pending applications and extant licences need to be re-examined. Applications have been refused, or extant licences revoked, if the changed circumstances warrant this.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department has taken to increase the security devices used on end-user certificates. [131144]

§ Nigel Griffiths
Each page of a submitted EUC must contain an original signature and be dated. With each completed EUC, the end-user or consignees must provide a covering letter on their headed stationary signed by the same person who has signed the EUC. Both the EUC and covering letter must be in original format.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether contact details for the Export Control Agency are visible on end-user certificates. [131145]

§ Nigel Griffiths
End-user certificates are provided by the consignee or end-user of the goods to be exported. The Department of Trade and Industry's export control address is included on all export licences issued on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
1066W

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether there are provisions in the proposals for the Secondary Orders of the Export Control Act 2002 to regulate the provision of military and police training to embargoed countries. [131147]

§ Nigel Griffiths
Yes, where specified by the terms of the embargo.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether end-user certificates for arms exports set out the conditions under which the export licence has been granted. [131150]

§ Nigel Griffiths
End-user certificates (EUCs) are provided by the consignee or end-user of the goods to be exported and must be consistent with the model format published on the Department of Trade and Industry's export control website. Conditions under which the export licence has been granted are set out on the export licence issued on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the extent to which her proposals for export control accord with Clause 5 of the resolution on Export Control passed by the European Parliament on 19 June. [131151]

§ Nigel Griffiths
The Government's proposals for export control are fully consistent with Article 5 of the EU Council Common Position on the control of arms brokering, adopted on 23 June 2003.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what international agreements the UK is party to on small arms regulation; and how her Department is ensuring these commitments are maintained, with particular reference to the proposals on export control. [131152]

§ Nigel Griffiths
The UK fully supports the UN Programme of Action (POA) on Small Arms and Light Weapons and actively participated in the first Conference in 2001 and the follow up Biennial Meeting of States, which was held in July 2003 to review progress on implementing the PoA. To help control the supply of SALW, the UK is leading the global effort to develop common international standards on arms exports. In December 2002 the UK was instrumental in securing "Best Practice Guidelines in the Exports of SALW" in the Wassenaar Arrangement, a group of 33 of the world's major arms exporters.
The UK signed the UN Protocol against the illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in firearms.
We continue to work in partnership with other Governments, NGOs and industry on policies and projects to implement the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms. This includes £20 million (2001–04) to curb small arms proliferation worldwide. The UK provides funding for research, projects such as weapon destruction, building awareness of small arms issues.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of how the Government's proposals on transportation of small arms, set out in the Department's consultation on the Export Control Act, comply with Clause II.12 of the 1067W United Nations Programme on Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. [131154]

§ Nigel Griffiths
The UK has fully taken into account it's international obligations on small arms, including the UN Programme of Action.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reasons all the recommendations set out in Clause II.14 of the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects were not included in the Department's proposals for export controls, with particular reference to the creation of a register of arms brokers. [131155]

§ Nigel Griffiths
The Government believe that licence applications should be scrutinised on a case by case basis and that it is impractical to maintain a register of brokers who have been 'vetted' by the DTI.
The consultation document on the draft Export Control Bill explained that the Government proposes to register information on all those applying for licences, both for experts and for arms trafficking and brokering activities. It is intended that this database will be used for licensing and enforcement purposes, including on an international basis as appropriate.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what support her Department provides(a) financially and (b) in other ways to Interpol's international weapons and explosives tracking system; and what use her Department makes of the system. [131156]

§ Nigel Griffiths
None.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what studies her Department has(a) conducted and (b) collated on the export controls regime in the US and (ii) other European countries. [131157]

§ Nigel Griffiths
The DTI maintains contact with officials in the export control regimes of other countries, for example through participation in the work of the international export control regimes and the EU Dual-Use Regulations Working Party. Collated systematic studies have not been carried out.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will amend her proposals on export control in response to the resolution passed by the European Parliament on 19 June calling on nation states(a) to adopt full extraterritorial legislation on export controls and (b) to establish registers for arms dealers. [131158]

§ Nigel Griffiths
The DTI can find no record of any resolution by the European Parliament on this subject.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what arms embargoes the UK has imposed since 1997 on countries in response to(a) armed conflict and (b) human rights violations. [129848]

§ Mr. Rammell
I have been asked to reply.
1068W
Since 1997 the UK has implemented mandatory UN arms embargoes on Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Ethiopia/Eritrea and Liberia, an EU embargo on Indonesia and a unilateral embargo on Zimbabwe. The latter was superseded by an EU arms embargo in February 2002. The UN arms embargo on Sierra Leone from 1998 was in response to internal armed conflict between the rebel militia group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), and the government. In 1999 an arms embargo was imposed on Afghanistan because of internal conflict. In 2000, a UN arms embargo was placed on Ethiopia/Eritrea due to armed conflict between the two states. It was terminated in 2001. The UN arms embargo on Liberia from 2001 was imposed (superseding the UN arms embargo UNSCR 788 (1992)) because Charles Taylor's government was supporting the RUF in Sierra Leone, and at war internally with a rebel opposition group, the Liberian United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). The UN Security Council deemed that all of these conflicts represented a threat to international peace and security and therefore the Security Council acted under Chapter 7 of the Charter of the United Nations. An EU arms embargo was imposed on Indonesia in September 1999 because of conflict in East Timor; this was limited to four months and it fell away in January 2000. In February 2001, the UK imposed a unilateral arms embargo on Zimbabwe because of human rights violations involving repression by the government of the Zimbabwean public. In February 2002, the EU imposed an arms embargo against Zimbabwe for the same reason, which the UK now implements instead.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of how her Department's proposals for the secondary orders on export control will impact on the Government's commitment to improve human rights internationally. [129865]

§ Nigel Griffiths
The new controls will support the Government's commitment to human rights. Under current export controls, all licence applications received are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria that require the Government to give consideration to respect for human rights. The Government have made clear that these criteria will also form the basis for decisions on licence applications for exports subject to the new controls. By increasing the number of transactions subject to licensing, the new controls will increase the Government's ability to act to prevent human rights abuses.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her Answer of 9 June 2003, Official Report, column 630W, if she will make a statement on the submission to the consultation on Export Control from Fund for Peace which was e-mailed to her Department on 1 May. [129805]

§ Nigel Griffiths
Yes.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reasons the National Criminal Intelligence Service was not included in the bodies consulted on the proposed legislative changes to export controls. [130028]
1069W

§ Nigel Griffiths
The DTI consulted other interested Government Departments, including the Home Office of which NCIS is a part, when formulating policy in this area.

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether her assessment of US export controls included an analysis of the effect US export controls have on the competitiveness of US arms manufacturers. [130186]

§ Nigel Griffiths
[holding answer 16 September 2003]: There is no assessment of the effect of other countries' export controls on the competitiveness of US arms manufacturers.