Manufacturer self-reported the offences to HMRC in the tax authority’s largest out-of-court settlement
Airbus has been fined £6.4m in the UK after the European aerospace company admitted to multiple breaches of rules designed to stop sensitive goods such as military hardware falling into the wrong hands.
The company, which sits at the heart of the European defence industry, said it had paid the settlement to the UK’s tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs, after self-reporting breaches that occurred before November 2022.
HMRC said the offences related to a failure by Airbus to keep records of the export or transfer of controlled technology over a sustained period.
The UK’s export control licensing regime is designed to prevent strategic goods such as military items and goods that can be used in weapons of mass destruction programmes being sold overseas or to sanctioned individuals and countries.
