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SPIRE
- UK Export Licensing System |
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SPIRE has revolutionised the export
control industry. Its award-winning technology has transformed a complex
archaic paper-based manual process with multiple systems into one
centralised, highly secure, paperless web-based system.
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An end-to-end electronic system for processing export
licence applications for goods controlled by the UK Government - SPIRE
ensures each step of the application process is tracked, dated and
timed, giving organisations the flexibility and control to monitor
status and progress.
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UK Export licence
applications for controlled goods are sent electronically to
BIS (Department for Business, Innovation & Skills) to process.
These are then approved or rejected on the advice of other government
departments (including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
the Ministry of Defence and, the Department for International
Development). |
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SPIRE was developed to:
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- Simplify and improve the services offered to UK Exporters.
- Provide a step change improvement in the efficiency of the business
processes within both the UK Export Control Organisation and across
the wider UK Government Export Licensing processes.
- Replace the disparate and numerous IT and paper-based systems
supporting the current business processes. The various systems had
grown organically over a number of years and were not providing the flexibility and functionality required.
- Provide secure web-based access to major government departments as
well as thousands of UK exporters, including major multi-nationals.
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One central web-based system for export licence applications
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SPIRE is now the only system in the UK to process
licence applications for the export of strategic goods. It is a highly
sophisticated, business-to-government and government-to-government
system for export licensing, as well as being security accredited
to UK Government Restricted Level.
SPIRE's flexibility has allowed the Ministry of Defence to include their pre-licensing approval application on the system.
This process is owned and run by MoD and completes the single system
principle for the export community.
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The system has brought the following benefits to
the industry:
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- Environmental impact minimized - paper consumption
cut by up to 95% in the first year. Approximately 3 million pages
are saved each year, equating to 15 tonnes of paper or 364
trees*.
- Greater efficiency - approx 14,000 licence applications and
over 4,500 enquiries are submitted each year - a 30% increase
in year one.
- Increased productivity – less manual processing –
allowing teams to spend more quality time on the decision making
processes.
- Reduction in carbon footprint and energy costs - couriers to
transport licence information between Government departments across
UK have completely disappeared.
- Greater flexibility, control and scalability – adapting
to increased demands. The system has grown steadily at a
rate of 5% per month with over 4,500 users across 2,500 registered
companies and up to 1,000 logins a day.
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Data securely encrypted to UK Government Restricted Level
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All data sent between exporters and BIS (Department
for Business, Innovation & Skills) is securely encrypted to UK
Government Level Restricted. Documents and forms are submitted to
SPIRE and are securely stored with full audit trail facilities implemented.
At the end of the licensing process, an electronic digitally signed
licence is issued from SPIRE using specialised document creation and
digital signature technology.
SPIRE is used daily by Exporters and Traders, BIS (Department for
Business, Innovation & Skills), The Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
the Ministry of Defence, the Department for International Development,
HM Revenue and Customs and Government Communications Headquarters.
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The system has over 4,200 active users across 2,500
registered companies with up to 1,000 logins a day. It comprises of
multiple systems including the following:
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- Standard Individual Export Licensing System
- Standard Individual Trading Controls Licensing System
- Open Export Licensing System
- Open Trading Controls Licensing System
- General Open Licence Registration System
- Exporter (Companies and Individuals) Records System
- Compliance Visits and Records System
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Publicly searchable statistics
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The excellent quality of data produced by SPIRE
has enabled a publicly searchable database, which allows anyone in
the world access to data about the UK Government’s export licences.
This information is key to Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and
parliamentary committees to keep informed on what licences have been
issued or refused by the Government.
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| *source www.printgreener.com/earthday.html |
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