EU seeks feedback on ‘specially designed for military use’

The EU has produced draft guidance on the meaning of ‘specially designed for military use’ and the European Commission is now seeking comments via a survey on the draft to help to finalise a ‘common definition’ of the term ‘specially designed for military use’ across Member States.

The proposed harmonisation is being carried out under Directive 2009/43/EC (‘Transfers Directive’), which aims to simplify terms and conditions of transfers of ‘defence-related products’ among Member States.  The Annex to the Directive contains a list of defence-related products, updated in line with the Military List, for which licensing is required. In the Annex it states that certain products should be licensed if they are ‘specifically designed for military use’.

The UK’s Export Control Joint Unit (‘ECJU’), part of the Department for International Trade (‘DIT’ has issued a Notice to Exporters encouraging exporters to respond to the EC’s survey, which closes on 1 June.

The EC’s survey can be found here:
https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/Survey-Guideline-for-Specially-Designed-for-Military-Use-2018

The UK’s Notice to Exporters 2018/06 can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-to-exporters-201806-european-commission-survey-on-specially-designed-for-military-use