What is a licence denial?
In some countries exporters routinely ask for non-binding opinions about whether or not a licence would be granted for a particular export before making a formal licence application. If they receive the reply that a licence would not be granted, they may not proceed with the export. However, as no licence has been applied for, it could be argued that there has not been a denial. The authority that provided this non-binding opinion must decide whether or not to supply regime partners with the information that the end-user concerned was seeking this particular item. Licences may sometimes be denied for reasons that are administrative or technical. An application may contain inaccurate or incomplete information. Licences may be denied for reasons that are not related to the objectives of a particular regime. The denial may be based on national foreign policy requirements or other considerations that regime partners may not wish to take into account in their own decisions. The cooperating
