Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of strengthening existing requirements under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 for parliamentary (a) scrutiny and (b) debate on international trade deals.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act (CRaG) provides an effective and robust framework for scrutiny of treaties that require ratification, including free trade agreements.
Nevertheless, the Government has also in place a suite of enhanced transparency and scrutiny arrangements that go well beyond the statutory obligations of CRaG.
The Government recognises the importance of Parliament being able to consider new free trade agreements, therefore a debate was held in Government time on 14 November to consider the Australia and New Zealand deals.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of excluding the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism from the UK-Australia trade agreement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The precise details of a free trade agreement with Australia are a matter for formal negotiations, and the Government would not seek to pre-empt these discussions.
If it is deemed that a legal mechanism is appropriate for resolving investment disputes, the mechanism will reflect modern practice, deliver fair outcomes of claims, require high ethical standards for arbitrators and include transparent proceedings.
There has never been a successful Investor State Dispute Settlement claim against the United Kingdom, nor has the threat of potential claims affected its legislation.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the effect of pesticides such as Paraquat, which are banned in the UK, being exported to India in the context of ongoing farmers’ protests in that country.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The export of paraquat is regulated under the Great Britain Prior Informed Consent (PIC) regulatory regime for the export and import of certain hazardous chemicals. Companies intending to export any of these chemicals from Great Britain must notify the importing country via the exporter’s Designated National Authority. For Great Britain the Designated National Authority is The Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Paraquat additionally requires the explicit consent of the importing country before export can take place. India allows the import of Paraquat and the exchange of information that PIC provides allows all countries to make informed decisions on the import of those chemicals and on how to handle and use them safely.
The farmers’ protests in India are a domestic matter for the Government of India.