§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what documentation his Department has received from the Canadian Government in support of their application for a one-year suspension of the fur import ban provided for in EC Regulation No. 3254;
(2) if he will give details of the representations he has received during the last year from (a) the Canadian Government, (b) the Canadian fur trade and (c) the British fur trade regarding EC Regulation No. 3254 banning the import of certain furs;
(3) how many times he or his officials have met members of (a) the Canadian Government and (b) the Canadian fur trade during the past year to discuss the effects of EC Regulation No. 3254.
§ Mr. NeedhamEC Regulation 3254/91, which was due to come into force on 1 January 1995, has been suspended for one year. Work is continuing in the international standards organisation on a trap standard. Ministers and officials in my Department regularly meet our Canadian opposite numbers. We have met the Canadian Government over the last year on a number of occasions to discuss trade issues, including the EC leghold trap regulation. In the course of those contacts, Canada provided information on the progress made in replacing leghold traps with alternative trapping methods. The Government took this information into account when preparing the United Kingdom position on the Commission proposal to suspend the regulation. Neither the Canadian nor the United Kingdom fur trade has made any representations to my Department during the last year.