Asked by: Tom Randall (Conservative - Gedling)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her Department authorised the sale and export of (a) tear gas, (b) rubber bullets and (c) riot gear to Hong Kong in the last 24 months.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
My Rt Hon. Friend for South West Surrey, then Foreign Secretary, announced on 25th June 2019 that we would not issue any further export licences for crowd control equipment to Hong Kong unless we were satisfied that concerns raised about human rights and fundamental freedoms have been thoroughly addressed. Further, I can confirm that there are no extant licences for crowd control equipment to Hong Kong.
HM Government publishes Official Statistics (on a quarterly and annual basis) about export licences granted, refused and revoked to all destinations on GOV.UK. These reports contain detailed information on export licences issued, refused or revoked, by destination, including the overall value, type (e.g. Military, Other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. This information is available at: gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.
The most recent publication will be on 14th July 2020, for licences issued up to the end of March 2020.