§ 10. Mr. Ovendenasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will introduce a licensing system in respect of individual imports of paper products entering the United Kingdom from the United Kingdom's former EFTA partners under the duty-free quota system.
§ Mr. MeacherI see no reason for doing so.
§ Mr. OvendenWould not my hon. Friend agree that a system which decides whether to impose duties solely by reference to the amount of imports during the year perhaps leads to a rush to 1034 import early in the year and an artificial level of imports during the year as a whole? Is it possible to have a system which determines whether a particular batch of imports is necessary or unnecessary in deciding whether to impose duties?
§ Mr. MeacherThe EEC-EFTA agreement as it affects paper and board products states clearly that there are to be no new quantitative restrictions between the Community and EFTA countries. I understand my hon. Friend to be recommending that we should examine the question of the allocation of the quotas. I am prepared to do so, although I must point out that we would have to state clearly in such a declaration exactly the criteria by which we allocated quotas and that for practical reasons that would be difficult and would also involve administrative costs. I will, however, look at the suggestion.