HC Deb 19 December 2001 vol 377 cc309-10W
Llew Smith

To ask the Solicitor-General if she will make a statement on the legal implications for the United Kingdom of the adjudication of the United Nations International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea, Irelandv. United Kingdom, on the Sellafield MOX plant, given on 3 December in Hamburg. [22825]

Peter Hain

I have been asked to reply.

By its order of 3 December 2002, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea "pending a decision by the Annexe VII arbitral tribunal" prescribed a provisional measure that Ireland and the United Kingdom "shall co-operate and shall for this purpose enter into consultations forthwith in order to:

  1. (a) exchange further information with regard to possible consequences for the Irish Sea arising out of the commissioning of the MOX plant;
  2. (b) monitor risks or the effects of the operation of the MOX plant for the Irish Sea;
  3. (c) devise, as appropriate, measures to prevent pollution of the marine environment which might result from the operation of the MOX plant."

This provisional measure is legally binding and the United Kingdom will comply fully with it.

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