§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what data she has(a) collated and (b) plans to obtain on whether British companies were responsible for selling Agent 15 or its constituents to Iraq since 1968; and what export licences have been issued for the sale of glycollates to Iraq. [29280]
§ Mrs. RocheAs my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence set out in his statement to the House on 9 February 1998,Official Report, column 6, our 565W knowledge of Agent 15 is limited. It is one of a large group of chemicals called glycolates, which are esters of glycolic acid.
The export to Iraq of any goods, unless under the authority of an export licence, is prohibited by the Export of Goods (Control) (Iraq and Kuwait Sanctions) Order 1990 [SI 1990/1640], which came into force on 9 August 1990.
The Export Control Organisation's database has been interrogated and no licences were identified for the export to Iraq of glycolates. However, details of all the goods on an export licence are not always recorded on the database, so it is possible that licences covering glycolates might have been issued during the period. Any such licence could be identified only by examination of the paper records of all licences issued since 9 August 1990, which would entail disproportionate cost.