§ Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the outstanding problems of verification with regard to recent resolutions at the United Nations calling for a comprehensive test ban treaty.
§ Mr. LuceWe believe that for a test ban to command general acceptance it must contain adequate safeguards against the danger of non-compliance by any of its signatory parties. This position was reflected in our voting on recent resolutions at the United Nations. As a first step towards ensuring that compliance with a comprehensive test ban is adequately verifiable, current techniques of seismic verification, on which monitoring of such a treaty would depend, require significant improvement. We have played an active part, including the tabling in 1983 of an important working paper, in discussions of verification aspects of the CTB at the Geneva conference on disarmament. We shall continue to do so.