mr president every day european businesses have to compete in an ever-changing and more competitive environment
the questions of dependability and timely delivery are as important as those of quality and price
exports of dual-use items create particular challenges in this regard as such exports are subject to authorisation requirements
dual-use items are not niche goods
they are very much items legitimately used in a broad variety of industrial sectors the space industry the telecommunications industry aviation the chemical industry and many others
the goods are controlled because they could also potentially be used for military purposes
many member states make special export facilitations available to their exporters
these facilitations take the form of general licences and allow businesses in certain member states to export dual-use items with the minimum burden
following an analysis of these national facilitation measures in two thousand and eight the commission put forward its proposal aimed at extending these national facilitations to exporters throughout the union
the proposal for a new eu general export authorisation is designed to allow exporters in all member states to reap the benefits of simplified export procedures for certain dual-use items to certain destinations
in this way participation in international exhibitions and fairs will become easier
exporting items after they have been repaired will also become simpler and exports of telecommunications equipment and certain industrial chemicals will be simplified
on the other hand member states will be able to concentrate their limited resources on transactions that actually do pose a risk
the commission regularly receives complaints from industry that certain exports are being prevented from entering one member state while identical transactions are given a green light in other member states
the proposal in front of you is a first step towards eliminating these inequalities within our single market
many other countries are taking similar steps to prioritise their work on export control and we should not be left behind
i would like to thank the rapporteur mr leichtfried and other members for their very constructive work on the proposal
the report presented by you and your committee is definitely a step in the right direction and is broadly consistent with the commission's view
