§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer of 27 January,Official Report, column 452, on aid to the fishing industry in other EEC countries, if he will obtain from the commission and publish the full list of aid it has approved, along with a list of unauthorised payments it has checked or objected to.
§ Mr. JackA full list of aids to the fishing industry is compiled annually by the Commission, but not published because it contains information supplied by member states on a confidential basis. The UK has pressed for this restriction to be lifted. Some summary information is available in the Commission's periodic surveys of state aids in the European Community. The latest of these covers 1986 to 1990 and is available in the Library of the House.
The Commission does publish details of aids in the Official Journal of the European Communities following their approval. This also contains details of unauthorised aids which the Commission is examining under the procedure set out in article 93(2) of the treaty of Rome, and the subsequent conclusions of such examinations.
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