HC Deb 21 October 1981 vol 10 c140W

Mr. Greville Janner asked the Lord Privy Seal whether, in view of the decision of the industrial tribunal in the case of Anthony Simmons and NEPC Limited, where it was shown that Mr. Simmons was dismissed on the grounds of his race or ethnic origin in order to meet the requirements of the Arab boycott, he will cease authenticating Arab boycott documents.

Mr. Luce:

No evidence was offered to the tribunal in support of a claim that pressures relating to the Arab boycott were put on Mr. Simmons' company. In its conclusions, the tribunal stated that it could not speculate on whether such pressures had induced the applicant's dismissal. Whilst remaining totally opposed to the boycott, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will continue to authenticate the attesting signatures on negative certificates of origin, as on other documents, which is of course quite different from authenticating the documents themselves.

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