Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether it is possible to introduce restrictions under the Open General export licensing regime to prevent export of arms to countries deemed at risk of using them for purposes that would violate international humanitarian law without disrupting export to approved recipients.

Open General Licences (OGLs) are pre-published licences that permit the export of specified items to specified destinations, following an online registration. These licences do not have any approved named recipients, however what they permit and to which destinations must be consistent with the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (SELC). If this assessment changes for either, then the OGL is amended, typically by removing the destination of concern. Removal of a destination from an OGL does not prevent an exporter from applying for a Standard Individual Export Licence – which would be assessed on its own merits against the SELC.