UK-to-Saudi arms exports on hold as government considers Court of Appeal judgment
The Export Control Joint Unit (‘ECJU’) of the UK Department of Trade has announced that it will not be granting new licences for export to ‘Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners (UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Egypt) which might be used in the conflict in Yemen’ – pending its consideration of the implications of a recent Court of Appeal judgment which obliges the UK government to consider whether its decision-making processes relating to such licences are ‘correct.’ (See last week’s WorldECR news alert: ‘SAUDI ARMS SALES: UK GOVERNMENT MUST RECONSIDER EXPORT AUTHORISATIONS’.)
The ECJU says that exporters ‘may continue to export under extant licences [but the ECJU] is…required by the Court to reconsider the decisions we made about those licences.’
In addition, it has stopped new registrations for six open general export licences (‘OGELs’):
- PCBs and components for military goods
- Export after repair/replacement under warranty (military goods)
- Exports for transfers in support of UK Government defence contracts
- Software and source code for military goods
- Technology for military goods
- Military goods: collaborative Project Typhoon
It said: ‘Exporters who have already registered for these OGELs may continue to use them to export to Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners, subject to the terms and conditions of the licences. Arrangements will be put in place for future registrations for other destinations permitted by these OGELs.’
On 20 June (following the Court of Appeal judgment), International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox told the House of Commons that in assessing arms export licence applications under the relevant criteria, ‘We have used six strands of information and analysis to inform decisions: analysis of all allegations of breaches of international humanitarian law that are known to us; an understanding of Saudi military procedures; continuing engagement with the Saudis at the highest level; post-incident dialogue, including dialogue with respect to investigations; Saudi public commitments to IHL [international humanitarian law]; and regular IHL assessments based on developments in the conflict in Yemen.
‘Each of these strands takes into account a wide range of sources and analysis, including those of a sensitive nature to which other parties, such as non-governmental organisations and the United Nations, do not have access. Taken together, these strands of analysis and information, which are reviewed regularly by the FCO in comprehensive reports to the Foreign Secretary and which engage continuously with the record of the Saudis in relation to IHL, form the basis of the Foreign Secretary’s advice to the Secretary of State making licensing decisions.’
His full statement is at:
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2019-06-20/debates/D9BD8C37-E5A0-4A7E-9959-AC40A0DEE622/ExportLicencesHighCourtJudgment
