MOD Form 680 Guidance Revised 10/08
GUIDANCE ON COMPLETING THE MOD FORM 680
INTRODUCTION 1. This guidance provides general background information to the MOD F680 process and specific instructions for the correct completion of the form. It may be helpful to refer to this guidance when making applications. PURPOSE 2. The F680 process fulfils several remits: • • It helps prevent unauthorised transfer overseas of security classified equipment and technology. It gives companies an indication of whether an export licence is likely to be approved in the future and whether there would be any issues surrounding local assembly/manufacture. It also helps to speed up the processing of a future licence application. It allows HMG to support a company’s marketing efforts. An F680 must have been approved before the Government will give support to an export campaign.
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WHO SHOULD APPLY FOR F680 CLEARANCE 3. List X Companies • A List X contractor (i.e. those who are approved to hold classified information at CONFIDENTIAL and above) requires F680 clearance before promoting or entering into any contractual commitments involving the sale of protectively marked defence equipment or technology overseas. This includes Private Venture equipment or technology classified RESTRICTED or above, and any defence equipment or technology, including Private Venture, that has not been formally security graded. An F680 is still required when a contractor wishes to promote or demonstrate classified equipment or technology at the UNCLASSIFIED level. A Form 680 is not normally required for equipment or technology that MOD has security graded UNCLASSIFIED.
The obligations of List X companies in respect of F680 clearance and promotional activities are set out in the Manual of Protective Security, issued by the Cabinet Office. 4. All Defence Companies including Non List X Companies Any defence company requires F680 clearance: • To use an Open General Export Licence that requires prior F680 clearance; and
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MOD Form 680 Guidance Revised 10/08
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To participate in an inward visit or in a Defence Industry Day in UK or abroad organised by HMG if F680 clearance is not already held.
Non-List X companies (i.e. those that only deal with UNCLASSIFIED or RESTRICTED assets) are not obliged to seek F680 clearance for their promotion campaigns. But they will need F680 clearance for the occasions described above. 5. MOD and Government Entities • MOD entities, such as Trading Funds, use the F680 for clearance where they wish to provide, or arrange to provide defence equipment or technology to overseas governments, agencies, companies or individuals. MOD and OGDs use the F680 process to assess against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria the gifting of military equipment overseas.
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SUB-CONTRACTING OR COLLABORATIVE WORK ON MOD UK PROGRAMMES 6. An application to sub-contract or collaborate on security classified work (known as a Form 1686) should be used to request clearance to place a classified subcontract or to enter into collaboration (or teaming arrangements) with an overseas company for the purpose of a MOD contract. The form should be sent to: Principal Security Adviser Defence Equipment & Support SBC Advice Centre # 2004, Poplar - 1 MOD Abbey Wood Bristol BS34 8JH EXHIBITIONS
7. Because an exhibitor cannot know in advance which countries it might be in discussion with at an equipment exhibition, it is impractical to seek an F680 clearance. Instead, exhibitors must obtain an exhibition clearance from either the Principal Security Adviser or Def Sy Pol (depending on whether the equipment is MOD sponsored or private venture). Such clearances may include provisos about what equipment or information might be exhibited, demonstrated or discussed. No equipment or information should be exhibited without this clearance. The relevant contacts are:
For MOD-sponsored equipment/information Principal Security Adviser Defence Equipment & Support SBC Advice Centre # 2004, Poplar - 1 MOD Abbey Wood
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Bristol BS34 8JH For Private Venture equipment/information and items not having an MOD sponsor Defence Security Policy (S&T/Ind) Zone 6D MOD Main Building Whitehall London SW1A 2HB ABOUT THE F680 CLEARANCE PROCESS 8. The F680 process is administered by the Directorate of Export Services Policy (DESP), in the Ministry of Defence. F680 applications should be submitted by e-mail to the DESP desk which deals with your company. If you do not know the DESP desk which deals with your company, you can send your application to: NewF680@desp.mod.uk Where necessary documents (e.g. security classified material, large volume supporting material) can be sent on electronic disk to: DESP Licensing Support Ministry of Defence rd 3 Floor, Zone E St George’s Court 2-12 Bloomsbury Way London WC1A 2SH 9. Any questions on the progress of an application should be directed to the relevant DESP desk officer who will have previously sent you an acknowledgement that he/she is dealing with your case. 10. When an application is received, it is circulated by DESP to specialist advisers in the MOD and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and in some cases to the Department for International Development. The advisers consider the application against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria and provide advice to DESP. The Consolidated Criteria can be found at: http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/3849543/eu-arms-export Desk officers in DESP will consider the advice and decide whether clearance should be given or refused. We aim to issue a response within 30 working days of receiving your application. 11. If exceptionally, you need a response in a shorter timescale, please provide details at Annex A to the F680 application, which is provided for supporting information. Even
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then there can be no guarantee that the deadline will be met. 12. Where an approval is issued for equipment/information that is either UNCLASSIFIED or RESTRICTED the clearance will be valid for four years. If the equipment/information is classified CONFIDENTIAL or higher, the clearance will be valid for two years. 13. F680 clearance does not negate the requirement to comply with export controls. For example, if your promotional activity abroad involves the transfer, including by electronic means, of controlled military technology, you will need to apply to the Export Control Organisation (ECO) of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) for an export licence. If you are in any doubt about whether or not your activities are licensable, then you should contact ECO at: eco.help@berr.gsi.gov.uk 14. If an F680 is refused the reason(s) will be explained, but there is no appeals process. However, if further information in support of the case becomes available, or circumstances change in respect of the grounds for refusal, a further application can be made. INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE COMPLETION OF F680 APPLICATIONS General 15. Please try as far as possible to keep the information on the form UNCLASSIFIED, since this will make handling easier. 16. We will handle your completed form as PROTECT – COMMERCIAL to safeguard the information it contains. PROTECT is a non-national security marking and information so marked is to be handled, used and transmitted with care taking basic precautions against accidental compromise or opportunistic attack. The COMMERCIAL descriptor indicates the nature of the sensitivity of the information. Information marked PROTECT – COMMERCIAL can be sent by e-mail on the Internet. Further information on the PROTECT marking is published in List X Notice number 02-2008. 17. If you need to include RESTRICTED information in your application you must mark the form accordingly and send it to us by the appropriate means (consult your company security controller for details). If you have access to the MOD’s Restricted LAN Interconnect (RLI) you may continue to use it to return the form with information classified RESTRICTED to DESP. If the provision of information above RESTRICTED is unavoidable it must not be included on the F680 application form, but submitted separately to DESP by the appropriate means and cross-referenced with the F680 application. 18. If you need to supply supporting documentation, please attach it to your application. However, if this information is available on your website and you tell us the web address, you do not need to send us a copy. 19. Applications for multiple country clearances can be accepted. These countries need
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not belong to the same geographical region of the world. Applications covering more than one product can also be accepted. But separate products should be in the same sector or environment. If you are unsure whether your application falls within the same sector or environment and is acceptable, contact the DESP desk which deals with your company’s applications for clarification. If you do not know the DESP desk which deals with your company send your application to DESP at: NewF680@desp.mod.uk 20. To help speed up clearance of any subsequent Export Licence Applications, you should quote on those applications the F680 five-digit serial number which can be found at the end of paragraph 2 of your acknowledgement letter from DESP. This number should be clearly quoted under ‘Promotion Approvals’ which can be found in the ‘End Use Details’ of the SPIRE application form. This F680 number should also be used in any other related correspondence and when any enquiries are being made about this particular application to MOD. Answering the Questions 21. The following is a detailed guide to answering the questions. a. Section One – Contact Details Q1. Your answer should give the contact details of the person who completed the form, and to whom the reply will be sent. Q2. The details here are necessary so that we can direct any detailed technical questions to the person best placed to answer them. b. Section Two – Details of the Application Q3. This information will help us identify those applications which are needed in order for a company to use an OGEL. You can view a list of the currently available OGELs at: http://www.berrec.com/CGIBIN/priamlnk.cgi?MP=CATSER^GINT65&CNO=1&CAT='215' Q4. Please only tick those clearances you actually need. Clearances related to supply, local assembly, and local manufacture take longer than clearances for market survey, promotion and demonstration because a wider range of issues need to be considered. If you require an F680 to use an OGEL or other open licence, please provide details in Q3. Q5. Because local assembly and manufacture require particularly detailed consideration, we will need details about the scope of any proposals. For example, the extent of any local assembly, where it will take place, the name and address of the companies involved and what controls will be put in place etc. c. Section Three – About the Equipment/Information to be Exported/Released
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Q6a. Do not leave this box blank. You should insert the name of the equipment that you wish to export. If the subject of the F680 is the release of information, please tell us what type of equipment the information relates to. Q6b. Do not leave this box blank or refer to an attached data sheet. It is useful for non-technical staff in the clearance process to have a brief and simple description of the equipment/information that you wish to export. Please indicate whether the proposed export is a component of a larger system. Q7a. Do not leave this box blank or refer to an attached data sheet. In addition to a basic description of the equipment/information, our technical advisors will need to know specific details. A sales or marketing brochure may not provide us with sufficient information and a full, focused, and relevant technical description will reduce the need for our advisers to request more information. A full technical specification can also be submitted with your application. Q7b. Cryptography covers encryption, authentication and digital signatures and includes both public domain algorithms and bespoke algorithms. Please tick the box even if the cryptography fitted in the equipment is not actually used. The box should also be used to indicate if the item contains functionality to generate frequency spreading or hopping codes. If unsure, please tick the box - this will not necessarily change the status of your application. If you have ticked the cryptography box, please provide details of the cryptography. This should include a list of all the cryptography protocols and algorithms and how they are used by the item (for example, whether for confidentiality or authentication and the modes in which symmetric algorithms are used) and details of the key length (for example, 56 bits) and key management. Q8. Please tell us what the equipment/information is going to be used for. d. Section Four – About the Customer Q9. This is the name and address of the person and organisation to whom you are providing the equipment/information. Where a company is the recipient you must provide the full postal address. It will help us to process your application if you specify, where appropriate, the service (e.g. Army, Police, Customs etc) and the branch (e.g. Counter Terrorism). Q10. The end-user may not always be the same as the name and organisation included in Q9. For example, the consignee in Q9 may be obtaining equipment/information from you for use by another entity in that country, or for re-export to an end-user in another country. Please provide as much detail as possible about the final end-use, where the details are different from those in Q9. Q11. This box should be used to notify us of any other third parties involved in any activities mentioned in the F680 application.
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MOD Form 680 Guidance Revised 10/08
e. Section Five – About the Equipment/Information Q12. It will help us to process your application if you provide details of any previous refusals or clearances for the same equipment/information to the same destination. Please also state if this is a renewal of an existing F680 and provide details. Q13. Please tell us if the equipment in your application has been developed with/paid for by MOD UK, or is a Private Venture (PV) by your company. PVs can contain technology which MOD has previously funded and in the case of PV variants and PV derivatives the ‘Part MOD funded/Part PV funded’ box should be ticked. • Variants are standard defence equipment under development or in production, e.g. aircraft, military vehicles or ships, etc. with nonstandard equipment or fitments, offered to meet special customer requirements or to avoid security or commercial difficulties associated with the sale of an item in-Service with UK Armed Forces. Derivatives are equipment for military or civil use that is not based on standard Service designs but is dependent upon expertise or technology acquired in the course of defence contracts.
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Projects, work or studies which are PV may require defence security protection because: • • • They include security classified information supplied by the Government as a background to defence work; or They have a potential military application; or They are based on significant advances in technology.
Q14. We need to know if the equipment in your application (or a version of it) is in use with the UK Armed Forces, because we want to be sure that the operational capability of the UK will not be compromised. Q15 a-b. In considering your application, we need to know if the equipment/information has been given a security classification, and be provided with supporting evidence that the classification corresponds with the proposed export. In the absence of this, we require to know what action is being taken to obtain a security classification. We also need to be sure that the overall security classification is that of the actual version of the equipment in your application. Please note that the security classification is not the BERR export control rating. If the equipment has not been security classified it may delay the application, this includes defence equipment without any HMG input or funding.
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MOD Form 680 Guidance Revised 10/08
Q16. This question relates to the security classification of the equipment/information you intend to release under this F680. Where equipment is highly classified, it is usual for a series of F680 applications to be submitted and approved at increasing levels of security classification as the export campaign develops. Q17. Where equipment/information has been supplied by another country or equipment contains foreign components you must satisfy yourself that you have taken into account any undertakings that you have made to the owner/overseas government concerned not to export without the approval of the owner/overseas government. This includes foreign information or content that is subject to the export controls of an overseas government. The Government has Bilateral Security Agreements/Arrangements with many countries which place obligations on the UK not to release security classified material received from that country without their prior written approval. If you are exporting security classified items originating from another country you must provide us with the written agreement from that country to release the security classified material or re-export the goods. You must also respect the requirements of any security classifications applied to any foreign information/content by the originating nation. f. Section 6 – Value of the Prospect Q18. We need to know the estimated value of the proposed export so that the F680 can be considered by the Department for International Development under Criterion 8 of the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. This concerns the compatibility of the prospect with the technical and economic capacity of the recipient country. g. Annex A – Supporting Information Annex A should be used to provide additional information to support your application, or as a continuation sheet. Internal Co-ordination in Industry 22. Please ensure that a copy of the completed form is also passed to your company Security Controller and Export Controller.
Directorate of Export Services Policy October 2008
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