On 12 October the Export Control Joint Unit paused its Control List Classification service. There is no restart date, only a promise of an update before the end of the year.

The CLC service let a business ask the regulator “is my product on the control list?” before it shipped, not after.

UK law puts that question squarely on the exporter. Get it wrong and your goods can be seized, unlicensed export is a strict liability offence (intent doesn’t matter), and HMRC compound settlements have reached into the millions. Yet we expect businesses, many of them SMEs, to make highly technical judgements against the control lists, and we’ve removed the only official place to check their working.

HMRC will still advise on commodity codes, aiming to reply within five working days. A commodity code isn’t a control list classification, but the principle is the point. The state helps with the question that mostly affects duty, and not with the one that can lead to seizure and prosecution.

The timing makes it worse. Proposed control list changes (semiconductor manufacturing equipment, advanced computing) were announced on 23 October, with regulations due in early December. Open licences have also been widened. That helps, but it puts the whole classification judgement on the exporter.

“Temporary” has a track record. The service was suspended in 2014 and did not return until June 2018.

Other regimes keep a route to the regulator:

• Germany: BAFA issues formal written determinations on whether goods are listed.
• US: BIS issues classification determinations on request, and the State Department rules on jurisdiction.
• Canada: Global Affairs Canada gives advisory opinions (non-binding).
• Japan: METI offers pre-consultation on whether items are controlled.

Licensing is under strain: ECJU closed 55% and 66% of standard licences on time in Q1 against a 70% target. But a backlog shouldn’t be solved by moving the risk onto exporters. There are other options: a fee-based tier, triage, a searchable database of past decisions, or ministerial funding.

My ask of Ministers is to publish a reopening date and an interim arrangement now.

Disclosure: I run a consultancy that advises on classification, so I have an interest. The argument stands either way.

Notice to Exporters 2026/22: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-to-exporters-202622-temporary-pause-of-the-control-list-classification-clc-service/notice-to-exporters-202622-temporary-pause-of-the-control-list-classification-clc-service

#ExportControls #UKTrade #Compliance #ECJU