§ Baroness Cohen of Pimlicoasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they intend to ratify the Council of Europe Civil Law Convention on Corruption. [HL2762]
§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Irvine of Lairg)I am pleased to be able to announce that I have today signed the civil law convention during the course of the Conference of the European Ministers of Justice.
The Government have strongly supported the programme of action undertaken by the Council of Europe in the fight against corruption. The civil law convention is an innovative and important international legal instrument which will enable 172WA victims of corruption to obtain appropriate remedies in the civil courts of all states which ratify the convention. The United Kingdom is not in a position to ratify the convention at present because the requirements of the convention with regard to the rules of limitation for civil proceedings go further than is provided for by current UK law. However, the Law Commission is currently considering the rules relating to limitation of actions and the Government will review this issue as soon as the Law Commission's report is available.