§ Mr. Graham PageI beg to move Amendment No. 10, in page 7, line 22, leave out 'certificates or other documents' and insert 'or certificates'.
This, again, is a probing amendment. Usually one describes an amendment as "probing" in Committee. Unfortunately, I did not table this one in Committee. However, I probed the matter on the Question, "That Clause 6 stand part of the Bill". The probing brought out nothing, so I decided to table this amendment on Report.
The amendment asks the Minister what he means by saying that inspectors can charge
for services or facilities provided by them, or for authorisations, certificates or other documents issued by them".That might mean a letter, a note or any other little communication.I hope that the Minister will explain this to enable me to withdraw the amendment, but he must put on record what he means by "or other documents".
§ 6.30 p.m.
§ Mr. John FraserThe Community obligations referred to arise from various EEC directives on the harmonisation of laws so that technical barriers to trade can be removed. These directives already go far wider than what we understand as the weighing or measuring equipment with which the 1963 Act deals, and we need to be ready to cope with new directives as they are adopted. For example, there are already directives on the calibration of ships' tanks, on instruments for measuring the volume and weight of grain and on devices to be incorporated in petrol pumps and similar equipment. All these types of equip- 1264 ment, and the more well-known examples of weights and length measures, need to go through the process of testing to qualify for various marks or documentation in one form or another which act as "passports" into the other EEC member States. Not to be able to prescribe the fees may hurt this country where it can least afford it—in its potential to export—since the local authority inspector will not do the work unless he can charge a fee.
An example of the sort of documentation which can arise in these directives is in the one on calibration of ships' tanks. In the directive there is a series of annexes detailing the papers to be prepared—not just a certificate, but various supporting diagrams and tables concerned with the layout and features of the cargo or fuel tanks. It is this sort of requirement which needs to be covered by the regulations under Clause 6 so that the United Kingdom is not in a disadvantageous position vis-a-vis its EEC competitors.
§ Mr. Graham PageI am grateful to the Minister for that explanation. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.