Return to an Address of the Honourable the House of Commons
dated 18 July 1996 for the Appendices to the Report of the Inquiry into the Export of Defence Equipment and Dual-Use Goods to Iraq and Related Prosecutions laid before The House on 15 February 1996*

Volume One
Section D Arms and Defence-Related Exports to Iraq
Chapter 1 The Howe Guidelines

Excerpt:
THE HOWE GUIDELINES

D1.1 In articles in newspapers, in television broadcasts, in memoranda passing between Ministers and officials as well as in casual conversations, references are often to be found to the “arms trade” or “arms exports”, to “defence-related exports” or “defence equipment” or to like expressions. These expressions are essentially ambiguous. The word “arms”, in a military context, means weapons. The “arms trade” is, strictly, a trade in weapons. Weapons are instruments whereby serious physical injury may be inflicted upon opponents. But the ability to conduct war, whether in an offensive or defensive mode, requires a wide variety of equipment and facilities which are not “arms” in the strict sense. Tank transporters are not weapons; mine detection and mine clearing apparatus are not weapons; radio communication equipment, radar, computers to guide missiles are not weapons. They, with countless other items, are all, however, vital equipment necessary if modern warfare is to be successfully waged.

D1.2 The expression “arms trade” is sometimes used in its strict sense but is also, perhaps more often, used to describe the trade not simply in weapons but also in all the other varieties of equipment associated with the conduct of military operations. The adjective “defence”, when applied to equipment or to exports, includes items which, not being weapons, are nonetheless associated with or intended for the furtherance of the conduct of military operations. Further, the adjective “defence-related” is often used to denote not only some species of defence equipment but also dual-use goods which are intended for use for military purposes, e.g. machine tools to manufacture munitions. In this Report, save where the context otherwise requires, the expression “arms” means weapons, the adjective “defence” denotes military equipment other than weapons and the adjective “defence-related” signifies all equipment used for the purposes of war. It should also be borne in mind that “defence” equipment and “defence-related” equipment may include items licensable under the Industrial List, as well as items licensable under the Military List. “Dual-use” items are capable of being put to a military use or to a civilian use and all the Industrial List items are “dual-use” in this sense. If licensable dual-use items are purchased for the purpose of being put to a defence-related use, e.g. machine tools purchased for the purpose of manufacturing munitions, chemicals purchased for the purpose of making chemical weapons or radio purchased for the purpose of military communications, they fall, plainly, into the “defence” or “defence-related” category. This point, obvious though it may seem, is worth making, particularly because in a memorandum dated 23 November 1992 to the Secretary of State for Defence, Mr Alan Thomas, the current Head of DESO (HDES), said (inter alia) that “British guidelines referred only to defence equipment not to dual use goods ....” This statement reveals an important misunderstanding of the breadth of the meaning to be attributed to the expression “defence equipment” as well as of the intended scope of the Howe Guidelines.

* The Full report is available from The Stationery Office Ltd., PO Box 276, London, SW8 5DT.