C
D
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7.
Moral Consultants and the companies they represent have made
a number of representations to Defence Export Services Organisation
(DE SO), the body in the MOD which handles AWP applications.
FEB
Ltd, one of the companies involved, have approached the MOD, both
through Gary Titley MEP who wrote to the Secretary of State on 18
March, and to whom a reply was sent on 9 April and through Dame
Peggy Fenner MP who wrote to the Minister for Defence Procurement,
and to whom a reply has not yet been sent. DE SO ha ve now asked FED
to reconsider the application.
ARGUMENT
8.
While this equipment does fall out side
do es fall outside the guidelines, those
guidelines are designed to bring the greatest possible commercial
benefit to the UK, without arousing unmanageable Chinese reaction.
In cases where sales can be made and the UK can profit without undue
risk to UK interests, it therefore makes sense to interpret the
guidelines reasonably flexibly. "Grey area" cases, of which this
case is one, crop up occasionally and need careful thought, to
ensure that we are not being excessively restrictive towards UK firms, when other Goverments may (not proven) be less restrictive
towards their firms.
9.
The equipment concerned here is largely civilian in
character, consisting mainly of fairly standard construction equipment (similar to that used on motorways) which can be exported
without a licence. The system is only made licenseable for export
because there are a few licenseable components incorporated into it,
but even these are close derivatives of
of commercial systems. I see
minimal risk of the Chinese hearing of the deal or, if they did,
objecting to it strongly. If they were to do so, we could tell them firmly that the equipment is basically civilian in character. Additionally we could argue that the system was in no way offensive
(though the distinction between offensive and defensive
deliberately not made in our guidelines, neither are our guidelines
in the public domain). The minimal risk of a serious Chinese
is
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