UK widens AUKUS open general licence to cover exports to deployed forces

LONDON, April 8, 2026 — The UK Export Control Joint Unit has issued Notice to Exporters 2026/10, updating the Open General Licence for AUKUS Nations with immediate effect. The revised licence entered into force on April 8 and revokes the previous version dated Oct. 2, 2025.

The licence’s purpose is to permit the export or transfer of dual-use items and military goods, software or technology, and certain trade in military goods, to, between and among Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It also allows re-exports among those countries, including where items have been incorporated into other products, subject to the licence’s terms and exclusions.

The main change from the October 2025 version is a new authorization allowing exports of goods, software or technology to any Australian, U.S. or UK armed forces when deployed in permitted destinations, including naval vessels, naval auxiliaries and government service ships. The updated text also extends coverage to parties under contract with, and directly embedded with or operating alongside, those forces. The previous version did not contain deployed-forces language.

The new licence also expands related trade-control permissions for certain Category B and C goods in Schedule 2, allowing supply or delivery between Australia and the United States and deployed Australian, U.S. or UK forces, and between those deployed forces and qualifying supporting contractors. Under the prior licence, those provisions covered only transfers between Australia and the United States.

ECJU added a destination carveout for deployed-forces exports. While Schedule 3 still lists Australia, the United States and the UK as permitted destinations, the revised licence says exports to deployed forces are allowed in any destination except a specified list that includes Afghanistan, Belarus, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria and Venezuela, among others. The October 2025 licence did not include that exclusion list.