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 2 Applications of The Guidelines in the period
December 1984 to August 1988

Excerpt:
INTRODUCTION

D2.1 In August 1988 Iran accepted United Nations Security Council Resolution 598, Iraq having already done so. A cease-fire was set for 20 August 1988 and a new era for defence- related sales to Iran and Iraq opened. During the period December 1984, when the Howe Guidelines were agreed upon, to August 1988, a large number of AWP applications and ELAs seeking approval for proposed exports to Iran or Iraq of defence-related goods were considered by the MODWG, by the IDC and by Ministers. The majority of the cases related to licensable goods, in respect of which export was not possible, lawfully at least, unless export licences were granted. Some of the cases, however, related to goods that were not subject to licence control under the then current EG(C)Os. In these cases the underlying issue was the same as in the cases in which export licences were sought, namely, was the export one which the Government ought to prevent? Whereas in the “licensable” cases the means of prevention would have been the denial of an export licence, in the “non-licensable” cases the means of prevention would have had to be either persuasion of the exporter to withdraw from the transaction, or, in the last resort, an amendment of the current EGC(O)s so as to bring the goods under licence control. Despite that important difference, the part played by the Guidelines in the reaching of a decision whether the export should or should not be prevented was, in both classes of case, much the same. The Guidelines were used, also, as a guide in cases concerning the admission into the United Kingdom of personnel from the armed forces of Iraq and (theoretically but, in practice, hardly ever) Iran for the purpose of undergoing some form of military training. These “training” cases were discussed in the MODWG and IDC meetings. According to Mr Collecott, head of the Iran/Iraq section of MED between May 1986 and April 1988, it was considered that such training fell within the purview of the IDC as an “extension” of its export licensing role. *1 They believed, rightly in my view, that the IDC should scrutinise and make recommendations on proposals for the provision of training which might significantly enhance Iraqi military capability.

D2.2 A report on government policy relating to defence exports to Iraq in the period after the adoption of the Guidelines and preceding the cease-fire requires an examination of the manner in which some of the important ELA and AWP applications were dealt with. It requires also some reference to events that occurred during the period and that had a bearing, or appear to have had a bearing, on government policy, including arrangements made for ECGD credit support for defence sales. And it requires a reference to some of the public statements about government policy made from time to time by government spokesmen. I propose first to refer to the general manner in which, over the period, the Guidelines were applied and to the various significant events that appeared to have influenced the government’s approach to defence exports to Iraq, and then to refer to the AWP and ELA applications that seem to me to merit particular attention. The ELAs to which I have specifically referred in the Report constitute but a small proportion of the total number of licence applications for export to Iraq which were dealt with by the DTI, the MOD and the FCO in the period between December 1984 and August 1988. A full list of those applications is set out in Part A of Appendix A of the Appendices to the Report. 2 2 The List of Export Licence Applications for Iraq 1984-1990 was drawn up and supplied to the Inquiry by the DTI Scott Inquiry Unit

Endnotes
*1 - see paragraph 4.3 of his written statement dated 20 May 1993

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