Clause 2 - Purposes of orders under section 1(1) or 2(1)
Export Control
10:45 am
Mr Gerald Howarth (Aldershot, Conservative)
I thank my hon. Friend--I was just checking. Thomson-CSF and Racal are now known as Thales, and my right hon. and noble Friend Lord Freeman is chairman of the British end of that important company. Like BAE Systems it has offices around the world. It is a French-owned company operating in the United Kingdom. Will it fall foul of the Bill if there are normal on-going discussions between various units of Thales, such as the United Kingdom element and the headquarters in Paris?
It is a sensible suggestion that the words
``other than within a company or group''
should be added to the clause, and perhaps we should also add the words ``or where companies are working together on a joint international project''. Whatever the merits of the Bill—and I quite understand that it has its merits—none of us would want so to hobble British industry, and particularly our defence industries, that they were unable efficiently and effectively to contribute to the defence of the United Kingdom and of freedom in the wider world.