No-deal BREXIT will render UK issued licences void for exports from EU

The UK’s Export Control Joint Unit (‘ECJU’) and Department for International Trade (‘DIT’) have published guidance on how exporting controlled goods would be affected if the UK leaves the EU without a Brexit deal, a scenario which the UK prime minister, Theresa May, has described as being, ‘not the end of the world’.

The technical notice covers:

• How export licensing requirements for different groups of items would change
• What the UK government would do to simplify licensing
• Where exporters of military and dual-use items, civilian firearms, and other goods can find relevant information.

It says that in the event of there being no deal,

• The movement of dual-use items from the UK to the EU would require an export licence. This is not currently the case and these movements would, therefore, need to be licensed in the same way as for non-EU destinations.
• Extant export licences issued in the UK would no longer be valid for exporting dual-use items from EU M S A new licence, issued by an EU Member State, would be required.
• Extant export licences issued by the 27 EU countries would no longer be valid for exporting dual-use items from the UK. A new licence, issued by the UK, would be required

The technical notice is one of a number of notices published by Department for Exiting the European Union to advise industry sectors on what happens in the event of a ‘no deal’, whilst emphasising that this outcome is ‘unlikely’.

The ECJU’s technical notice can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/exporting-controlled-goods-if-theres-no-brexit-deal