Chemical Weapons (Hansard, 23 January 1990)

§ Mr. Macdonald
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions his Department has had with the chemical industry regarding the implementation of a chemical weapon convention.

§ Mr. Sainsbury
Officials of this Department and other Government Departments concerned meet regularly with representatives of the United Kingdom chemical industry to discuss issues involved in the chemical weapons convention under negotiation in Geneva.

§ Mr. Macdonald
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether any groups or individuals that are independent of the chemical industry will be invited to assist with the work of the national authority, established under the chemical weapon convention.

§ Mr. Sainsbury
The structure and procedures of any national authority which might be established under a chemical weapons convention have yet to be decided.

§ Mr. Macdonald
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the oversight of the implementation of the verification procedures under the terms of a chemical weapon convention will involve any personnel or organisations that are independent of the chemical industry.

§ Mr. Sainsbury
It is currently envisaged in the negotiations in Geneva for a chemical weapons convention that the implementation of verification procedures will be carried out by an international technical secretariat established by the convention.

§ Mr. Macdonald
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the Government's policy on the renunciation of the present reservation to retaliate in kind if subjected to chemical weapon attack, under the terms of the Geneva protocol 1925(a) before a chemical weapon convention is signed, (b) upon the signing of a chemical weapon convention and (c)at some stage during the implementation of a chemical weapon convention.

§ Mr. Sainsbury
The United Kingdom, in common with a number of other states parties to the 1925 Geneva protocol, entered a reservation in the interests of national security, permitting retaliation in kind if subjected to attack with chemical weapons. This remains the United Kingdom's position.
On the second and third parts of this question, I refer the hon. Member for Western Isles to the answer given to his earlier question on 11 December last year.