UK stops export of certain military items to Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Egypt
On 17 July 2019 the United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade: Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) issued a notice to exporters (2019/11) alerting them of six new open general export licences (OGELs). This notice came following the Court of Appeal Judgment of Campaign Against Arms Trade’s appeal, which stipulates that the ECJU will not grant any new licenses for certain military exports to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain or Egypt that could be used in the Yemen conflict. Therefore, exporters registered for these discontinued OGELs prior to 20 June 2019 may continue to use them to export to Saudi Arabia and its ‘coalition partners’. However, new versions of these OGELs are now published for new registrations and new registrations with these OGELs “do not permit exports to Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners’.