§ Ms. WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will put an end to the export of toxic wastes to third world countries by ensuring a complete EC ban on the export of all forms of toxic waste;
(2) if he will ensure that the right to ban toxic waste trade is enshrined in new EC regulations;
(3) if he will set a date for an end to the import and export of toxic waste into and out of the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Maclean[holding answer 26 October 1992]: The EC waste shipments regulation was agreed at the meeting of the Council of Environment Ministers on 20 October, chaired by my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State. I represented the United Kingdom.
The regulation will enable member states to ban imports for final disposal from other member states unless they produce hazardous waste in such a small quantity that it would be uneconomic to provide new specialised disposal facilities. Imports for disposal will also be permitted from developing countries which do not have and cannot acquire the technical capacity and necessary facilities in order to dispose of waste in an environmentally sound manner.
Exports for disposal will only be permitted to European Free Trade Association countries which are parties to the Basel convention.
Movements of waste for recovery, which provide valuable substitutes for raw materials, will continue between Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, subject to the environmental controls set out in an OECD decision. There will be strict controls on exports of hazardous wastes for recovery outside the OECD area. Exports will have to accord with the environmental safeguards included in the Basel convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal. Exports will be prohibited where a third country refuses to accept them or if the exporting member state has reason to believe that the waste will not be managed on arrival in an environmentally sound way.
The regulation is likely to come into operation in 1994.
§ Ms. WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy at the meeting under his presidency on 20 October to(a) ensure that the clause which will allow EC member states to bar waste imports is inserted into the final regulations, (b) set a date for an end to the import and export of toxic wastes and (c) ensure that the regulation will stop the export of all toxic wastes to non-Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.
§ Mr. MacleanI refer the hon. Lady to the answer I gave earlier today.