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The Export Control Organisation has published two open general export licences covering printed circuit boards, connectors and fastenings. This is the first result of a campaign to reform export control that expects to see further changes this year.

techUK has today achieved the first milestone in reforming export controls for UK Electronics Components manufacturers, with the publication of two Open General Export Licences (OGELs) covering Printed Circuit Boards, Connectors, Fixing and Fastenings, which overcome the onerous task of applying for individual export licenses and the completion of End User Undertakings.

The result for the electronics industry concludes two years of work at techUK including the production of a landmark report ‘competitive disadvantage caused by the way the UK implements export controls’, which proposed reforms to the licencing system. Subsequent collaboration with the Export Control Organisation (ECO) to implement changes arrives in the form of the specific OGELs released today, as mentioned in the ECO notice to exporters.

Ken Ball, Electronics Programme Manager at techUK comments: “We identified that UK Electronics businesses were losing exports worth £2m per day to competitors based outside of the UK due to outdated and inappropriate licencing restrictions. We are delighted that the new OGELs will considerably reduce the regulatory burden on UK exporters allowing controlled export without lengthy delays normally associated with licence applications. However, this is not the end of the road.

“The new OGELs do not cover the entire scope of 'low-risk' electronic components that techUK and the ECO have identified as having the potential to move to a 'light touch' licencing system for UK components manufacturers.”

During the course of techUK’s consultation with industry, an additional and significant export licencing issue has been highlighted -  the export of components, subsystems and equipment that incorporate Encryption in common use for a wide variety of industries and at the heart of Internet of Things. Current wireless communications systems and components, such as ZIGBEE, use encryption to send and receive data. These products, although in common use across industry, cannot be exported without a licence and applying for a licence is a lengthy and complex process. In response to this, techUK has formed a joint working group with the Export Group for Aerospace, Defence and Dual-Use (EGADD) and the ADS Group to address these issues with the ECO and is seeking industry support to work towards a speedy reform of these export controls.