Export Control (Iran) (Amendment) Order 2010

I thought that I did say that; please accept my apologies. We need to join with our European partners on this. The threat can be more effectively tackled at a European Union, rather than at a national level, by ensuring that there are uniform measures binding on all member states. Without such action, we could not guarantee that member states would have equivalent controls in place on exports to Iran, with the consequent risk that Iran would be able to further its nuclear ambitions by procuring equipment within the EU. This is not just about UK policy; the knowledge that we have about Iran’s nuclear procurement necessitates changes from time to time and we need to remain vigilant. It is essential that the EU has the ability to act quickly. The alternative to the process used in these regulations would be to seek the agreement of the Council to changes of this kind. In my view, this would be inappropriate for as serious and volatile a situation as that in Iran. Finally, the Commission’s power to amend the list of controlled goods, software and technology in the Iran Sanctions regulation is still very closely circumscribed. Without UN involvement, it can only act on the basis of information supplied by member states and only in relation to goods, software and technology, ""which could contribute to enrichment-related, reprocessing or heavy water-related activities, to the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems, or to the pursuit of activities related to other topics about which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has expressed concerns or identified as outstanding"." In addition, the Council is able to amend the common and foreign security policy measure on which the Iran Regulation is based. That gives member states a further level of control. In practice, member states would ask for additions to the controlled list in the context of a working group. The Commission can only act on the basis of information supplied by member states and in practice, such information would be given in the context of a working group with all member states operating by consensus. Therefore, the UK should be able to block any proposition which raises national concerns. Once again, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Howell, for giving us an opportunity to debate this important issue, but I hope, in view of the further explanation I have given, that he will feel able not to press his Motion.