§ Mr. CanavanTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement about Her Majesty's Government's involvement in the export by the Consarc company to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of furnaces capable of making carbon carbon for nuclear war heads.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkIn February 1985 the Government amended the Export of Goods (Control) Order to prevent the export of some equipment needed to complete a contract undertaken by Consarc in the USSR. The action followed an assessment that the Soviet plant might be used to manufacture carbon-carbon for strategic uses. The equipment to be supplied under the contract was not at the time subject to multilateraly agreed COCOM controls and therefore not controlled by national export licensing of the United kingdom or other COCOM partners. Subsequently, COCOM partners agreed to amend their controls similarly.