UK Exporters to Face 'Minimal' Licensing Disruption During Coronavirus Pandemic, UK Says
There will be “minimum disruption” to the export licensing process for exporters in the United Kingdom, which expects to continue processing license applications amid the coronavirus pandemic response, according to a March 20 notice from the U.K.’s Export Control Joint Unit. Processing “strategic” export license applications has been “identified as a business-critical operation” by the Department for International Trade, the ECJU said, adding that it recognizes authorizations for dual-use and military exports are “essential.” In addition, as more of the industry works from home, the ECJU clarified that there are “no export license compliance issues” with industry accessing U.K. “export control regulated data” from home using a company computer. Users will continue to receive communications and license decisions from SPIRE, the U.K.’s online export licensing system, in the “normal way,” the notice said.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
The agency added that its compliance and inspection program will continue, but it will conduct remote audits instead of site audits. The ECJU said it has reached out to sites that were scheduled to be audited “soon” to determine an “effective communication route” and will “discuss how best a remote audit can be undertaken.” Industry should ensure it has access to all records relating to their licensed exports, the notice said.