DEFENCE PROCUREMENT
Letter from Lord Drayson, Minister for
Defence Procurement, Ministry of Defence to the Chairman
I enclose an Explanatory Memorandum (not printed)
covering the European Commission's Interpretative Communication
(IC) on the application of Article 296 of the treaty in field
of defence procurement.
We assess that the Commission's Interpretative
Communication does not have any direct policy implications for
the United Kingdom as we believe that the United Kingdom already
complies with the Commission's interpretation of the correct use
of Article 296 TEC.
As a result of this assessment we do not foresee
the IC having any impact on our implementation of the Defence
Industrial Strategy (DIS), given that the objective of the DIS
is consonant with the purpose of Art.296. Neither do we anticipate
the IC hindering our ability to procure defence equipment from
the United States or elsewhere in the world in order to meet our
defence capability requirements. However we do hope that it will
result in a more open European defence equipment market and better
cost efficiency.
30 January 2007
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