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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he was first informed of the Chinese notification to the WTO of 18 July 2017 of its restrictions on imports of waste.

Defra Ministers were first alerted to China’s proposed import restrictions in July 2017. At Ministers’ request, Defra officials engaged with officials from the Department for International Trade and the Environment Agency over the summer and held meetings with industry in September to discuss the potential impacts of the restrictions.