Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the UK’s Instrument of Acceptance dated 31 March 1995 in respect of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) under Article XVII of the Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) has lapsed; whether membership under that Instrument is dependent on BIOT being an Indian Ocean coastal State.

The United Kingdom deposited instruments of acceptance to the IOTC Agreement on 31st March 1995 and 22nd December 2020 and has been a party to the Agreement since it entered into force. Both instruments remain extant. The Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission provides that IOTC membership shall be open, inter alia, to FAO members that are situated wholly or partly within the IOTC's Area of Competence. As BIOT is situated wholly within the IOTC's Area of Competence, the United Kingdom, as the State with sovereignty over BIOT as aforementioned, is entitled to be a member of IOTC.