§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Newport, West, (Mr. Flynn)Official Report, 20 December 1994, column 1045, on the import of biological and chemical warfare weapons materials and their precursors, what are the reasons for the unavailability of the information requested.
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§ Mr. NeedhamThe United Kingdom classification of commodities for overseas trade is based on the harmonised commodity description and coding system, an internationally agreed system of classification which incorporates the headings of the combined nomenclature of the European Communities. This classification does not specifically identify the materials in question. As a consequence, the official trade statistics of the United Kingdom cannot distinguish between the materials in question and related commodities. An analysis of import licences issued by this Department would not provide the required information because it is unlikely that an individual import licence would be required for many of the commodities concerned.