§ 43. Mr. Russellasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will ascertain the approximate number of new bilateral trade agreements of which brief particulars have been published in the International Trade News Bulletin issued on be- 1290 half of the Contracting Parties since the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was signed in 1947.
§ The President of the Board of Trade (Sir David Eccles)The agreements listed in this Bulletin, many of Which are renewals of previous agreements, cover a variety of subjects and purposes If my hon. Friend would let me know more precisely the nature of the information he desires to extract from this material, I will see if I can help him.
§ 44. Mr. Russellasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will propose at the next meeting of the Contracting Parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade that, in view of their discriminatory nature, all bilateral agreements entered into by any of the Contracting Parties should be registered with the Secretariat.
§ Sir D. EcclesNo, Sir. I do not see that any useful purpose would be served by adding this requirement to the existing provisions for the publication of agreements.
§ Mr. RussellWould it not be useful to have discriminatory agreements registered in view of the fact that they are against the spirit of the G.A.T.T.?
§ Sir D. EcclesBilateral agreements are not ruled out by the G.A.T.T., and if any which are thought likely to conflict with the terms of G.A.T.T. are made, there is machinery for examining them. I am not at all sure that a rule of this kind would help, because it is very easy to make an agreement of this type in such a way that it would not have to be registered.