International Trade Law News

The U.K. Government has published its 11th annual Strategic Export Controls report for the 2007 calendar year.

In addition to describing various changes to U.K. export controls policies during the past year, the report indicates that in 2007 the U.K. processed 9,647 Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) applications, down from 9,908 in 2006. Of these, over 79% were processed within 20 working days. In addition, a total of 292 Open Individual Export Licence (OIEL) applications were processed, with 75% being processed within the 60-day target.

What is striking about the report is the continued small number of enforcement cases brought involving violations of the U.K.'s export control laws. While the report states that the "enforcement of strategic export controls on military and dual-use goods, including activities against trafficking and brokering, continues to be a high priority", the report indicates that enforcement actions resulted in 55 seizures and only three successful prosecutions involving violations of export control laws and seized. This was the same number of successful prosecutions brought in 2006. See table 1.2 of the report for a complete list of the export prosecutions in the past two years.

Labels: Export Controls, United Kingdom