§ 1. Mr. R. Harrisasked the President of the Board of Trade why it is necessary for a person or firm to obtain a licence to export works of art over £500 in value to countries outside the sterling area; and why the term "works of art" is interpreted so widely by Government Departments that it includes book labels produced from a hand-engraved copper plate and low-priced reprints from other hand-engraved plates, whereas mechanical reproductions are not so included.
§ The President of the Board of Trade (Sir David Eccles)Exports of works of art are controlled to conserve objects of national importance and to support the exchange control. There is no precise definition of a work of art, but for control purposes it is held to include hand-engraved plates and hand-printed impressions thereof. Some of these are very valuable: those which are not may be exported freely under an open general licence provided that the value of any consignment does not exceed £500.
§ Mr. HarrisWill the President do his best to remove all the restrictions that he can from this industry which, although small, can be quite a useful little dollar-earner?
§ Sir D. EcclesYes, Sir. I certainly will, but just at the moment it is not possible to relax the exchange control provisions.