§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he has taken in the light of recommendations by the Joint Nature Conservation 295W Committee to restrict the number of United Kingdom ports through which live animals and birds may be imported.
§ Mr. MacleanThe recommendation to consider restricting the number of ports through which live animals may be imported was one of a number of recommendations made by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee in its recent report on trade in wildlife. As the wildlife trade raises many complex issues which do not affect the United Kingdom alone, my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment and I wrote recently to the European Commissioners for agriculture and the environment drawing the JNCC report to their attention and pressing for stricter Community-wide controls over international trade in wildlife. A Commission proposal for a new regulation on the wildlife trade is expected to be published soon and we shall take full account of the JNCC advice in the subsequent discussions.