Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what criteria are used to assess whether to grant export licences to foreign governments for surveillance technology.

All export licence applications, including for Hong Kong, are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria taking into account all relevant factors at the time of the application, including how the goods will be used. There was one licence issued to Hong Kong for telecommunications equipment in the first quarter of 2019, for use in counter terrorism, counter narcotics, counter trafficking and search and rescue operations. We draw on a range of sources in making our assessments, including our overseas network. Risks around human rights violations or abuses are a key part of our assessment. We do not license equipment where we assess there is a clear risk that it might be used for internal repression.