Export controls could harm software development

MPs are urging the government to re-think the rules

Legislation could require separate licences for email collaboration

The government is being urged to act to prevent overseas collaboration on software development being crippled by export control laws designed to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

The appeal follows a report from MPs which signaled alarm at the potential damage the heavy-handed application of existing export control regulations could cause.

The committee said it had been warned the area of software transfer was where UK export controls were 'most contentious and possibly at their least adequate', they were 'frequently flouted because of their impracticability' and 'should be reviewed as a matter of urgency'.

And the report published this month said senior academics had 'expressed concern over the potential implications of the Act for collaborations in software development projects with non-EU groups' because fragments of code are frequently transferred by email.

The legislation could require a separate export licence to sanction each email exchange with non-EU colleagues.

'If this is indeed the case, the effectiveness of any collaboration with non-EU groups would be seriously inhibited,' said the report.

The committee recommended the government clarify existing rules and decide whether a general licence or exemption could be provided.

A high-profile example is BT's 21st century network programme, said Philip Virgo, strategic adviser to the Institute of the Management of Information Systems.

The specialists required are scattered in universities around the world and trying to keep track of chunks of code emailed back and forth would be 'an absolute nightmare', he said.

'Any attempt to monitor what is happening module by module would look rather like King Cnut telling the waves to go back,' said Virgo.