asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to support efforts to strengthen the international code of conduct on the use and distribution of pesticides, with particular reference to article 9 on information exchange at the forthcoming Food and Agriculture Organisation council and conference; and if he will make a statement.

I have been asked to reply.There is not yet sufficient practical experience of operating the existing information exchange procedure based on the FAO code of conduct and the UNEP London guidelines to decide whether the code of conduct needs to be modified.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will list, with regard to the interim notification scheme and the London guidelines for the exchange of information on chemicals in international trade, part 11, notification and information regarding banned and severely restricted chemicals, how many notifications of control action and what relevant information has been sent to other countries when an export of such a chemical is occurring; and if he can list the chemicals notified, the companies involved and the countries to which they have been sent and on what dates;(2) if he is satisfied that, under the provisions of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985, adequate information has been provided voluntarily by pesticide exporting companies to permit the Government to fulfil their international obligations for information exchange on banned and severely restricted pesticides; what information has been provided concerning the products countries and date of export; and if he will make a statement.

I have been asked to reply to these questions.The United Kingdom was among the first countries to implement the UNEP provisional export notification scheme and the UNEP London guidelines.The United Kingdom has issued control actions for 41 chemicals which are listed at table 1, 22 of which can be used as pesticides. In accordance with the requirements of the UNEP scheme, the notification of control action contains information concerning the reason for the control action, the title of the legislation under which the substance is controlled and the name and address of a contact point from whom further relevant information may be obtained, and any exceptions or derogations. Copies of all the legislation referred to in the control actions are available from the international register of potentially toxic chemicals and the United Kingdom banned or severely restricted chemicals are listed in the second issue of the United Nations consolidated list of products whose consumption and/or sale have been banned, withdrawn, severely restricted or not approved by Governments.A list of 22 export notifications, four of which can be used as pesticides, is at table 2. The date, destination and name of the compounds exported is given. Details of the companies involved are confidential. All this information has been provided voluntarily, but under part III of FEPA 1985 Ministers may require the provision of any information necessary to fulfil their international obligations to supply information.