§ Mr. MacdonaldTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if the Government will support the Oslo Commission decision of 29 June to ban the dumping at sea of North sea oil and gas platforms. [32503]
§ Sir Paul BeresfordNo decision on this subject could be reached by the Oslo Commission on 29 June for procedural reasons, but a majority of the contracting parties indicated that they would vote in an intersessional written procedure for a decision for a moratorium on deep sea disposal pending the development of a ban as soon as possible. The UK and Norway—the only two countries which have deep-sea installations—indicated that they will not vote for that decision. Under the convention, they will thus not be bound by it. Any ban will be mere posturing by countries without such installations. These countries less than three years ago signed the OSPAR convention which provides for case-by-case assessment to determine the best way for the environment as a whole of decommissioning each major offshore installation—this remains the most effective way of dealing with this difficult problem.