Chemical Weapons Convention (Hansard, 19 January 1993)

§ Mr. Robin Cook
To ask the President of the Board of Trade how the proposed United Kingdom national authority will undertake its role of demonstrating to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that the United Kingdom Government are fulfilling its obligations as set out in the forthcoming chemical weapons convention.

§ Mr. Heseltine
The United Kingdom national authority will act as a channel of communications with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which will include transmitting declarations from United Kingdom sites. The verification regime operated by the OPCW inspectorate will ensure that the United Kingdom meets its obligations under the convention.

§ Mr. Robin Cook
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he plans to publish annual reports about the work of, and information collected by, the national authority under the proposed chemical weapons convention.

§ Mr. Heseltine
No decision has been taken yet about whether the National Authority will publish an annual report. This will be the subject of consultation with interested bodies. The information received by the authority will be subject to the terms of the annex to the convention dealing with the protection of confidential information.