§ Lord Brooke of Sutton MandevilleMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. In so doing, I draw attention to the fact that I am president of the British Art Market Federation.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect the next triennial review of the threshold figures under Council regulation (EEC) No. 3911/92 on the export of cultural goods from member states of the European Union.
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyMy Lords, as the regulation was introduced in 1993, the next triennial review would be due in 2005. However, the European Commission has so far declined to undertake any such reviews in 1996, 1999 and 2002. We have pressed the Commission and other member states about this at every available opportunity without success. We will continue to pursue this at both ministerial and official level.
§ Lord Brooke of Sutton MandevilleMy Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. As he will be aware, the background to the Question is that a failure to update the thresholds has more than doubled in a decade the number of export licences the DCMS has to process each year, with a consequential potential impact on their timeousness. Since the issue of qualified majority voting applies to the Council's examination of the figures and not to the Commission's proposal itself, do the Government believe that the Commission is legally justified in not proposing regular triennial updates of the threshold figures? If so, have the Government considered testing the issue in the European Court of Justice?
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyYes, my Lords. As the noble Lord, Lord Brooke, knows, the position is that the Council has to consider the matter acting on a proposal from the Commission. Unless the Commission puts a proposal forward, the Council cannot do anything about it. Our view is that this is not the right way to behave and we are taking legal advice about it at the present time.