UK Mistakenly Approves Licenses for Banned Exports
The British government apologized after breaking a court ruling banning it from granting export licenses for defense goods to Saudi Arabia. In a Sept. 16 letter to the United Kingdom Committees on Arms Export Controls, Trade Secretary Lizz Truss said the U.K. allowed two “inadvertent breaches” of the license ban.
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“I have apologised to the Court unreservedly for the error in granting these two licences,” Truss wrote.
One export license approved a shipment of about $320,000 worth of radio spares to the Royal Saudi Land Forces in Yemen, Truss said, and the other approved the export of a $250 “single Wirewound Air Cooler” also to the RSLF. Truss said the U.K. recently discovered another approved export license for more than $6,000 worth of components for a “maritime radar system” for the United Arab Emirates Navy. After reviewing the license, Truss said, the U.K. “cannot be certain” the items will not be used for the “conflict in Yemen” and is “in the process of revoking the licence.”
Truss said a “full investigation” will be conducted into why the two export licenses were issued, whether any other licenses were mistakenly issued and to “confirm that procedures are in place to ensure that no further such breaches can occur.” During the investigation, all license decisions involving Saudi Arabia and its “coalition partners” will “be subject to additional compliance processes,” Truss said.