About the Export Control Organisation

Export Control Organisation - facilitating responsible exports

The Export Control Organisation (ECO) is the UK's strategic export licensing authority.

This section provides an overview of the work of ECO, detailing the following:

Remit

Our main remit is to issue licences for the export of strategic goods.

This specifically means military goods, so called dual-use goods (which are civilian goods but with a potential military use or application), products used for torture and repression, radioactive sources.

We also issue trade control licences for the trafficking and brokering of arms.

ECO also:

  • audits and ensures export control compliance with Open Licences through regular company visits.
  • reports statistics about strategic export license applications on a quarterly basis and inputs into the Government's annual report on export controls.
  • undertakes a wide range of outreach activities both internationally and nationally.
  • participates in the shaping of worldwide arms control policies through the international arms control regimes and working with Other Government Departments on counter-proliferation activities.
  • develops the UK’s export licensing policy and legislation working in consultation with a diversity of stakeholders from industry and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
  • provides help and advice to exporters through a helpline, seminar programme, rating enquiry service, database tools (Goods Checker and OGEL Checker) and via this website.

Find out more about Our Export Control Services

 

Mission

ECO's aim is to

Promote global security through strategic export controls, facilitating responsible exports


Targets and Objectives

ECO plays an important part in contributing to central government targets and agendas which balance the need to promote business competitiveness with global and national security concerns.

  • ECO contributes to the Government's cross-cutting counter-proliferation work which is defined in the Public Service Agreement (PSA) target to:

Reduce the impact of conflict through enhanced UK and international efforts

  • Our work also feeds into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Departmental Strategic Objective to:

Make the world safer from global terrorism and weapons of mass destruction

  • Finally ECO contributes to BERR's central purpose which is to help ensure business success in an increasingly competitive world. ECO specifically feeds into the Departmental Service Objective target to:

Deliver free and fair markets, with greater competition, for businesses, consumers and employees

Our objective is to control restricted exports and prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) while minimising the impact on UK business.

For more information see further details of BERR's Public Service Agreement (PSA) Targets and ‘Better World, Better Britain’ - the FCO’s strategy (external website)

 

Performance Reporting

ECO is committed to providing regular licensing statistics in the form Quarterly Reports and Quarterly Figures as well as contributing to the Government's Annual Report, which include details of licensing performance statistics against defined targets. More details are available about Licence Application Statistics.

The ECO also undertakes an annual customer satisfaction survey.

The work of ECO is subject to parliamentary scrutiny from the Committees on Arms Export Controls (external website).

 

Background to Export Control

The UK's strategic export controls are based on national and international commitments on transfers of conventional weapons, missiles, chemical and biological weapons and nuclear related goods and technology, and associated components.

These commitments require the control of goods, software and technology which are itemised in the UK Strategic Export Control Lists made up primarily of the UK National Military List and the EU Dual-Use List (for goods/technology which may have both military and civilian applications).

 

Organisational Structure

ECO forms part of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), formerly the DTI.

ECO is positioned within BERR's Europe and International Trade Directorate. The current Minister with responsibility for Export Controls is Ian Pearson, Economic and Business Minister.

 

Export Licensing Community

ECO operates in close conjunction with other UK government departments - in particular the Foreign Office (FCO), Ministry of Defence (MOD), Department for International Development (DFID) and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

The FCO, MOD and DFID each play a key role in licence decisions as guided by the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria.

HMRC is the enforcement arm, responsible for verifying licences at ports and airports, for imposing penalties and if necessary prosecuting exporters for breaches of export control legislation.

Collectively these departments form the export licensing community.

 

Stakeholders

ECO interacts with a wide range of stakeholders, not least exporter companies.

Our engagement with exporters is outlined in the ECO: Service and Performance Code.

Other stakeholders including non-government organisations and industry liaison groups such as the Export Group for Aerospace and Defence (EGAD) and the Export Control Awareness Committee (ECAC). ECO also works with other government departments and agencies such as UK Trade & Investment, the UKTI Defence & Security Organisation and Business Link when communicating with business regarding export control.

 

Export Control Organisation

Updated: October 2008

 

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