Export licence (ex military) for Croatia (and others)

[SilverBirch]

Do you have any experience of applying for an export licence to a country not included on the OGEL eg Croatia? Was it successful?

I am considering an ex-military vehicle (Bedford MJ, TM or DAF type truck) for the basis of an overland camper van (expecting to do a good quality conversion.) but I am trying to understand the Export licence limitation on countries to which I can travel.

Looking at the

Open General Export Licence (Military Surplus Vehicles)

dated

21st May 2010 granted by the Secretary of State

It lists the excluded countries as

All destinations other than in :

Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Burma (Myanmar), Burundi, China(PRC) (including Hong Kong and Macau Special
Administrative Region), Croatia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya,
the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea,
Peru, Rwanda, Serbia and Montenegro, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan,

Taiwan, Tanzania, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe

[pictish]

Hi there, do you know what classes your vehicle as ex military[most the vehicles you listed are also in civilian use], as these vehicles are classed often becuase of very simple things, for instance paint scheme, central tyre inflation system ect and upon removal become ordinary vehicles. Also you could try reregistering as a camper, there are several people that have travelled with DAFs and bedfords, MAN KATs, unimogs and had no problems getting them registered as civvie vehicles.

[SilverBirch]

I phoned the enquiry number (not always the most knowledgable source) and the answer was anything that had been owned by the military. (Maybe someone here knows differently).
So I said "everything even if it is the same spec as sold to civilians?"
"YES".
"So trucks, gearboxes, filing cabinets?"
"yes" "what about my grandad's: pen, and watch?" (I don't know whether my Grandad had a military issue pen and watch!)
"I'm not sure about those"

From this I concluded you could not de-militarise a vehicle. Once owned by the military it would always be subject to export licences. Do you know better?

If this is the case then I am sure a few people are travelling without realising they needed a licence.

[m37charlie]

It is always an excellent idea to make the vehicle look totally civilian. If it looks civilian then who is going to know? the Croatian customs certainly won't care.
You might have trouble bringing it back into the country if the registration says "ex MOD" with UK Customs, but otherwise if it has a civilian registration how will they know?
I certainly wouldn't disconnect anything useful like CTIS!
The situation is a bit different for US military vehicles; they do not have civilian twins except for the Humvee.

Charlie