S.I. No. 362/1996 - European Communities (Control of Exports of Dual-Use Goods) Regulations, 1996

I, Enda Kenny, Minister for Tourism and Trade, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving full effect to Council Regulation (EC) No. 3381/94 of 19 December, 1994¹ as amended, hereby make the following Regulations:–

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Control of Exports of Dual-Use Goods) Regulations, 1996.

2. In these Regulations –

"authorised officer" means a person appointed under Regulation 6 of these Regulations;

"the Council Regulation" means Council Regulation (EC) No. 3381/94 of 19 December, 1994 setting up a Community regime for the control of exports of dual-use goods as amended by Council Regulation (EC) 837/95 of 10 April, 1995²

¹OJ No L367, 31.12.1994, p.1

²OJ No L90, 21.4.1995, p.1

"dual-use goods" means goods referred to in the Council Regulation;

"the Minister" means the Minister for Tourism and Trade.

3. The Minister shall be the competent authority in the State for the purposes of the Council Regulation.

4. The export of goods referred to in Article 3(1) of the Council Regulation (not being goods referred to in Article 19(1)(b) or 21(1) of that Regulation) to a country referred to in Annex II to Council Decision 94/942/CFSP of 19 December, 1994³ shall be deemed to be authorised by the Minister for the purpose of that Regulation if the exporter of the goods –

³OJ No L367, 31.12.1994, p.8, as amended by Council Decision 95/127/CFSP of 10 April, 1995, Council Decision 95/128/CFSP of 10 April, 1995 and Council Decision 96/613/CSFP of 22 October, 1996 - OJ No L90, 21.4.95, pp.2 and 3 and OJ No L278, 30.10.96, p1

(a) complies with the relevant provisions of that Regulation as respects that export,

and

(b) furnishes to the Minister the following information, namely –

(i) his name,

(ii) the address where the documents and records referred to in Article 14 of that Regulation relating to the goods may be inspected,

before the export takes place or within 30 days after the export has taken place or, if the exporter exports goods of the type concerned on more than one occasion, before such an export (being the first occasion of such an export) takes place or within 30 days after such an export (being the occasion as aforesaid of such an export) has taken place.

5. The Minister may grant to an exporter an authorisation of the type referred to in Article 6(1)(b) of the Council Regulation.

6. (1) The Minister may appoint one or more persons to be an authorised officer or authorised officers for the purposes of this Regulation.

(2) A person appointed under this Regulation shall, on his appointment, be furnished with a certificate of his appointment and when exercising a power conferred by this Regulation shall, if requested by any person thereby affected, produce such certificate to that person for inspection.

(3) An authorised officer may for the purposes of the Council Regulation or these Regulations –

(a) enter at all reasonable times any land or premises on which a business of exportation of dual-use goods (whether or not in addition to other goods) is carried on or the exportation of such goods is organised or arranged,

(b) require any person in occupation of the said land or premises or who carries on a business aforesaid or does anything else aforesaid on the said land or premises to produce to him such documents, records or materials as are in that person's possession or control relating to the exportation of dual-use goods and to give to him such information as he may reasonably require in regard to such documents, records or materials,

(c) either on the said land or premises or elsewhere, inspect and copy or extract information from documents, records or materials produced to him under subparagraph (b) of this paragraph or which he finds on the said land or premises.

7. (1) An exporter who –

(a) exports dual-use goods otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of the Council Regulation,

or

(b) fails to comply with Article 4(2) of that Regulation,

or

(c) otherwise contravenes a provision of that Regulation,

or

(d) for the purpose of obtaining for himself or for any other person an export authorisation under that Regulation, makes any statement or representation which is, to his knowledge, false or misleading in any material respect,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) The reference in paragraph (1)(d) of this Regulation to the making of a

statement includes a reference to the furnishing of information specified in Regulation 4(b) of these Regulations.

(3) A person who –

(a) obstructs or impedes an authorised officer in the exercise of his powers under Regulation 6 of these Regulations, or

(b) without reasonable excuse, refuses or fails to comply with a requirement made of him under paragraph (3)(b) of the said Regulation 6 by an authorised officer, or

(c) makes a statement or furnishes information to an authorised officer, pursuant to a requirement made of him under the said paragraph (3)(b) by such an officer, which is, to his knowledge, false or misleading in a material respect,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) A person guilty of an offence under this Regulation shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

(5) Where an offence under this Regulation is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any person, being a director, manager, secretary to other officer of such body, or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

(6) An offence under this Regulation may be prosecuted by the Minister.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 3rd day of December 1996.

Minister for Tourism and Trade.

Explanatory Note

The effect of this Order is to provide effective control of exports of dual-use goods (goods which may be used for both civil and military purposes) as provided for in Council Regulation (EC) No 3381/94 of 19 December, 1994, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 837/95 of 10 April, 1995, and to provide for penalties of the prohibition.