HC Deb 18 February 1977 vol 926 c388W
Mr. Faulds

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's policy toward the sanctions breaking operations conducted to procure trade for the trade organisations of the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and East Germany.

Mr. Tomlinson

Her Majesty's Government deplore sanctions breaking by any country, organisation or individual. Under paragraph 21 of Security Council Resolution 253 of 1968, the United Kingdom has a special responsibility to inform the United Nations Sanctions Committee of all apparent breaches of sanctions which come to our notice, so that the United Nations Secretary-General can invite those concerned to investigate. It was in accordance with this obligation that last September we drew the Committee's attention to the fact that we had information suggesting that official trading agencies in certain East European countries had been engaged, through the intermediary of three Swiss companies, in trade with Rhodesia.