§ Motion made, and Question proposed,
§ That the Motor Vehicles (International Circulation) (Amendment) Order 1968, a draft of which was laid before this House on 13th June, be approved.—[Mr. Bob Brown.]
§ 4.1 p.m.
§ Mr. A. H. Macdonald (Chislehurst)I have one question to ask on the Order. As my hon. Friend the Joint Parliamentary Secretary knows, a situation developed in Turkey a year ago under which any haulage concern doing business with Turkey had to pay £300 every time it sent a vehicle through. I have a constituent firm in this position. The Order aims to deal with that situation.
My question is this: when the Order is passed, will this at last be the end of the road, and can my constituent send his vehicles through free tomorrow; or, if this is not the end of the road, what further steps, if any, have to be taken, and when will the process be completed?
§ 4.2 p.m.
The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport (Mr. Bob Brown)There is something of a chicken and eggs situation about this matter. Under the terms of the Motor Vehicles (International Circulation) Act, 1952, Orders cannot be made except to give effect to an international agreement, but the Government cannot give effect to such an agreement unless and until they have the necessary legislation. We get out of this circular situation by providing for the Order to have effect from a date which has to be notified in the London Gazette once the Order has received affirmative Resolutions and been approved by the Privy Council. The agreements can be ratified and then the operative day which has to be notified in the London Gazette will be determined by ratification provisions of the agreement.
In this case, the governing factor is the provision in the Swedish agreement which brings it into force 30 days after ratification. The Turkish agreement comes into force as soon as we notify the Turkish Government that our processes of law are complete.
Therefore, the remaining stages after the affirmative Resolution are approval by the Privy Council, ratification of the Swedish agreement by the Foreign Office, and then the putting into force by notification in the London Gazette 30 days after ratification of the Swedish Agreement. The necessary notifications to the Turkish Government will be arranged to coincide with this. It would be fair to assume that the agreement should be in effect by about mid-August.
§ Question put and agreed to.