asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the current position of European Economic Community countries in the negotiations designed to formulate a protocol to protect the ozone layer under the Vienna convention.

The Environment Council last November gave the Commission a mandate to participate in negotiations, along with EC member states, on the basis

that existing Community measures were intrinsically sound but that some modifications might be required. At the Council on 19–20 March, at which I shall represent the United Kingdom, Environment Ministers will consider the Community's position for the next round of negotiations in April.