Clause 9 - Annual reports
Export Control Bill
11:15 am
Mr Nigel Griffiths (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Edinburgh South, Labour)
We have had a well informed debate on the clause. I congratulate the parliamentary draftspeople for drafting in three sentences one of the most vital clauses in the Bill. I want to reinforce the message that we intend to continue the practices that up to now have been voluntary, and make them statutory. I do not ask the Committee to take only from me the high quality of the Government's annual report. I quote the organisation Saferworld, which said that that report
``currently stands as the most transparent report published by any European country, and offers a potential template for best practice throughout the EU.''
I hope that in commending this clause, I have covered the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for North Durham and the hon. Member for Aldershot. We hope that our EU partners will follow our example so that we can see what happens when we reject licences. Of course, we have a procedure to inform our partners in Europe of that, and they must circulate the information in their countries, too.
The clause places the annual report on strategic import controls on a statutory basis. It requires my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to report to Parliament on the operation of the export licensing system for objects of cultural interest.
For those reasons, I consider the clause an important part of the Bill and am sure that the Committee agrees with me. I urge the Committee to agree that the clause should stand part.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 9 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Further consideration adjourned.—[Mr. Pearson.]
Adjourned accordingly at twenty-three minutes past Eleven o'clock till Tuesday 16 October at half-past Ten o'clock.