UK: 2007 - Review Of Export Control Legislation

The Export Control Act 2002 heralded the start of a far-reaching overhaul of the United Kingdom’s legislative framework for dealing with export controls; a process which continued over the next 3 years with the introduction of further secondary legislation.

Combined, these pieces of legislation introduced tighter controls, and a more cohesive approach to a variety of areas. Whilst many of the new measures related to trading in military list goods, there were areas of impact for the wider business community, affecting international businesses, researchers and those trading in possible dual-use goods and controlled goods. Dual use refers to civil goods and processes that may be put to a military application. These restrictions are non-industry specific but may be of relevance to industries, such as the oil industry, which may trade in or use (among other things), explosives and radio-active tools.

The Government is now carrying out its commitment to conducting a post-implementation review to identify whether the measures introduced are having the intended effect and to assess the impact of the changes on industry and the business community.

To this end, the Government has issued a consultation document http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file39949.pdf, which re-produces the key results of the 2004 evaluation carried out by the Export Control Organisation ("ECO").

The areas already identified for discussion are wide ranging and include:

• the extent to which the changes have placed additional burdens upon business

• the effectiveness of the current measures

• the nature and need for a definition of ‘technology’ following controls of transfers of technology by electronic means

• the possibility of a pre-licensing registration system for UK based arms traders

• the practical problems of raising awareness among UK overseas personnel of the controls and the possible need to apply for licences

• the need for a new "partially restricted goods" category between the current "Restricted Goods" and "Controlled Goods" categories

• the removal of a trader’s current ability to make a judgement whether transport services fall within the controls and replacement with a requirement for documentary proof of sanction from the licensing authorities

• the treatment of overseas production subsidiaries as though they were UK exporters

The Government invites comments on the impact and effectiveness of the controls from all interested parties. Evidence based views are sought by way of a questionnaire contained within the consultation document. The consultation process is open until 30 September 2007 with the results to be published by 31 December 2007.

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

The original publication date for this article was 17/08/2007.