To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps are being taken to implement effective regulatory import controls on natural resources from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (a) directly and (b) via other states, to the UK; and if she will make a statement. [99716]

[holding answer 3 March 2003]: No steps are being taken to implement regulatory import controls on natural resources from the Democratic Republic of the Congo received into the UK directly or via other states. Trade measures such as regulatory import controls fall within the competence of the European Community and not at the UK level.