Consultation on proposal to introduce fees for strategic export licences
The Government is launching this consultation in order to open a debate about the potential for charging for export licences.
The Government is seeking views of relevant and interested respondents in order to define and implement a new charging policy for strategic export licences via new secondary legislation issued under the Finance Act 1973.
The purpose of this consultation is to give all those impacted by the proposals a chance to respond to the proposals. This includes exporters of controlled military and dual-use items, relevant trade associations and other non-governmental organisations, export advisors and consultancy firms as well as academics, researchers or individuals who apply for strategic export licences issued by the Export Control Organisation (ECO).
The consultation document includes details on the reasons for the proposal being put forward. In particular the Government wants to understand:
- the impact on exporters of the time taken to process export licence applications.
- the impact of introducing fees at the indicative fee levels
- ways of mitigating the impact on small and medium sized or micro businesses
- preferred payment methods and processes
The Government is also conscious of ensuring that any introduction of fees would be accompanied by a clear and achievable programme of service improvements. As result, a key objective of this consultation document is to guage opinions on what improvements you want to see into the future.