Glossary

Basic scientific research

Basic scientific research means experimental or theoretical work undertaken principally to acquire new knowledge of the fundamental principles of phenomena or observable facts and not primarily directed towards a specific practical aim or objective.

Development

Development means all stages prior to production (for example. design, design research, design analyses, design concepts, assembly and testing of prototypes, pilot production schemes, design data, process of transforming design data into goods or software, configuration design, integration design, layouts).

Dual-use

Dual-use Items are goods, software or technology (documents, diagrams etc) which can be used for both civil and military applications. They can range from raw materials to components to complete systems, e.g. aluminium alloys, bearings, or lasers. They could also be items used in the production or development of military goods or chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, (e.g., machine tools, chemical/manufacturing equipment and computers).

ECJU

Export Control Joint Unit - The Government team within the Department for Business and Trade who are responsible for administering the UK’s system of export controls and licensing for military and dual-use items.

End-use controls

End-use controls focus on regulating the purpose for which exported goods or technology will be used, ensuring they are not diverted to unauthorized or sensitive applications. Unlike control list classifications, which categorize items based on their inherent characteristics, end-use controls can apply dependent on the intended final destinations and applications of exported items to mitigate potential risks such as proliferation or misuse.

End user of concern

This term is used when the Export Control Organisation (ECO) may wish to apply end-use controls (above).

Export controls

Export controls are the legislation the UK Government uses to restrict the export of sensitive technology and strategic goods. The aim is to prevent transfers that can lead to developing or producing weapons or goods which: (i) Could be used against the UK and allied forces and/or (ii) Cause national security concerns. Export controls apply to physical goods or the transfer of software, data, technology, or know-how which could have a military application.

Goods

Goods refer to physical items or products including materials, equipment, components, and finished products. These could range from machinery and electronics to chemicals and firearms.

Information

Information may take forms including, not limited to: blueprints, plans, diagrams, models, formulae, tables, ‘source code’, engineering designs and specifications, manuals and instructions written or recorded on other media or devices (for example disk, tape, read-only memories).

In the public domain

In the public domain means available without restriction upon further dissemination (no account being taken of restrictions arising solely from copyright).

Items

In the context of export controls, items encompass both goods and technology. It refers to any tangible or intangible items including physical products as well as the knowledge and information necessary for their development, production, or use.

Production

Production means all production stages (for example as product engineering, manufacture, integration, assembly (mounting), inspection, testing, quality assurance).

Required

Required as applied to technology, it refers only to that portion of technology which is peculiarly responsible for achieving or extending the controlled performance levels, characteristics or functions. Such required technology may be shared by different goods.

Source code

Source code (or source language) is a convenient expression of one or more processes which may be turned by a programming system into equipment executable form.

Technology

Technology is a defined term within export control legislation. Quotation marks denote this and other defined terms in the export control lists. Technology means specific ‘information’ necessary for the development, production or use of goods or software.

Transfer

Transfer, in relation to software or technology, means transfer by electronic or non-electronic means (or any combination of electronic and non-electronic means) from a person or place within the United Kingdom to a person or place outside the United Kingdom.

Transfer by electronic means

Transfer by electronic means, in relation to software or technology, means transmission by facsimile, telephone, cloud services based outside of the UK or other electronic media (except that oral transmission of technology by telephone is included only where the technology is contained in a document the relevant part of which is read out over the telephone, or is described over the telephone in such a way as to achieve substantially the same result as if it had been so read).

Transfer by non-electronic means

Transfer by non-electronic means, in relation to software or technology, means disclosure of technology by any means (or combination of means), including oral communication, other than as the export of goods or the transfer by electronic means.

Use

Use means operation, installation (for example on-site installation), maintenance, checking, repair, overhaul and refurbishing.

Voluntary disclosure

There are instances where it might become apparent that export of goods or transfer of controlled technology may have occurred without an appropriate export licence in place. It is also possible that such irregularity might have been identified by a compliance inspector from ECJU. If this happens, it is very important to report the irregularity to HMRC (sometimes known as voluntary disclosure) as soon as possible. If the irregularity is found by audit, the compliance inspector will have informed HMRC and the exporter is strongly advised to do the same.