Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to align the UK’s regulations with the EU’s recent prohibition on exporting banned chemicals to countries where they remain permitted.

The Government is committed to protecting human health and the environment.

Requirements for the export of hazardous chemicals are agreed at the international level under the Rotterdam Convention. In GB, the export of certain hazardous chemicals is regulated through the GB Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Regulation.

The regulatory requirements under GB PIC are the same as under the EU PIC Regulation but the UK now makes its own decisions under PIC and other chemicals legislation.

We continue to monitor developments in other countries and learn from their experiences.