Arms Trade: Exports
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what capacity his Department has for monitoring the end-user destination of arms exported under the Open General license regime; and what assessment he has made of the compatibility of those licenses with the end-use monitoring obligations of the Export Control Joint Unit.
Answered by Mr Douglas Alexander
The scope and terms of Open General Licences (OGLs) are chosen so they are consistent with the SELC. OGLs are typically offered for low risk destinations and low risk items. If our assessment of the risks relating to an OGL changes, then the OGL is amended or revoked. We would expect exporters to apply for a Standard Individual Export Licence where OGLs are not available and we would then be able to make a detailed assessment taking into account the specifics of the application before deciding whether or not to issue a licence.
The UK’s approach is designed to enable a rigorous risk assessment to be carried out before a licence is issued to consider whether goods might be used in a way which is inconsistent with the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (SELC). The UK does not carry out end-use verification checks overseas after a licence is issued.
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