To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received of the purchase by UK companies of goods from Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara. (309543)

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not received any reports or representations from UK companies regarding the purchase of goods from Western Sahara or the legalities of such purchases.

The UK continues to maintain its position that Morocco, as the de facto administering power of Western Sahara, is obliged under international law to ensure that economic activities under administration—including the extraction and exportation of phosphates—do not adversely affect the interests of the people in Western Sahara. This was also the opinion of the EU Legal Service when considering the legality of the 2006 EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement before it was finalised.