UK Agency's Hearing Submission Provides Insight Into UK Export Control Procedures

The United Kingdom’s department of Revenue and Customs on June 10 submitted written evidence to an inquiry from the U.K.’s Committee on Arms and Export Controls. The questions and answers document includes details on how the department determines enforcement penalties for export violations, how the department decides when to proceed with certain cases, the department’s “high vacancy rate” among staff and more. The department also addressed why it only conducted six “full criminal investigations” of a total of 652 "preliminary assessments" of potential breaches of export controls in 2016, difficulties in investigating end-user violations and what plans it has for preparing U.K. export controls after Brexit.

U.K.’s Export Control Joint Unit also submitted evidence for the same inquiry on June 6, detailing how it assesses license applications, maintains controlled item lists, how it identifies emerging technologies and how it governs “government-to-government” arm exports.