Clause 10 - Interpretation
Export Control Bill
9:30 am
Mr Nigel Griffiths (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Edinburgh South, Labour)
As the hon. Member for Salisbury (Mr. Key) said, the purpose of the amendment is to leave out subsection (5). The key point is that the definition of controlled technology is necessary to allow us to introduce proposed controls on technical assistance intended for weapons of mass destruction and related missile programmes. Technical assistance, to which controls can apply, will be that which is provided abroad for controlled goods and technology. The goods or technology to which assistance is provided will also be located abroad. Subsections (4) and (5) explain what is meant by controlled technology when it is held by a person, or at a place, outside the United Kingdom. Subsections (2) and (3) do the same for goods. Subsection (4) provides that controlled technology is that which, if transferred from the UK, would be subject to control. Subsection (5) allows an assessment of whether technology outside the UK is to be controlled based on the same considerations that would apply if it were transferred from the UK. That ensures that controls on technical assistance abroad can take into account the use to which the assisted technology will be put and to whom it is provided, as well as the type of technology in question. That is necessary where controls are determined by the end use of the technology.
I realise that that is a very technical point but it is an important one because, as I explained on Tuesday, we need to be able to implement controls on the provision of technical assistance to weapons of mass destruction and related missile programmes in order to implement the European Union joint action. In view of that explanation, I invite the hon. Member for Salisbury to withdraw his amendment.