§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade whether he will publish in the Official Report any figures available to him indicating whether Japanese suppliers of cars have taken advantage of the quotas to export larger cars to the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. SproatImports of Japanese cars are not subject to quota restrictions. The available figures, summarised as follows, do not show any trend towards increasing size in the Japanese cars imported.
Percentage of total imports of cars from Japan classified by engine capacity 1978 1979 1980 Jan., Feb. and Sept.1981 Not exceeding 1500 cc 60 53 59 57
United Kingdom imports and exports of heavy commercial vehicles 1974–1980 Year Trade with EC Countries Trade with non-EC countries Number Imports Value Number Exports Value Number Imports Value Number Exports Value (£'000 (£000) (£'000) (£000) 1974 2,700 7,094 11,228 23,759 137 783 41,739 74,249 1975 1,297 7,031 10,551 29,088 388 3,223 59,259 154,983 1976 2,078 15,472 11,747 41,415 762 6,568 53,469 178,495 1977 3,607 28,913 12,607 58,509 1,269 12,928 46,878 200,810 1978 4,624 38,334 11,442 66,858 1,901 19,718 36,840 175,325 1979 9,447 57,706 13,223 86,461 2,741 44,900 35,999 181,301 1980 8,535 70,766 10,167 72,230 2,663 31,823 35,488 188,065 1981 (September) 294 3,659 312 2,819 145 2,485 2,286 14,155
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the European Economic Community tariff on motor cars; whether and to what extent this is expected to be reduced under international agreements; how it compares with the level of the United Kingdom tariff before United Kingdom entry into the Common Market; and whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the number and value of imports and exports of cars between the United Kingdom and the European
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1978 1979 1980 Jan., Feb. and Sept. 1981 Exceeding 1500 cc but not exceeding 3000 cc 40 47 41 43 Exceeding 3000 cc — — — — Notes:
(a) Figures correspond to SITC (R2) Group 781 in the United Kingdom Overseas Trade Statistics.
(b) Figures for March to August 1981 are not yet available.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the European Economic Community tariff on heavy commercial vehicles; whether and to what extent this is expected to be reduced under international agreements; how it compares with the level of the United Kingdom tariff before United Kingdom entry into the Common Market; and whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the number and value of imports and exports of heavy commercal vehicles between the United Kingdom and the European Economic Community and between the United Kingdom and non-European Economic Community countries for each year since 1970 and for September 1981, grossed up at an annual rate.
§ Mr. SproatThe information is as follows:
- (a) The present common customs tariff duty is 22 per cent, ad valorem.
- (b)This duty is not being reduced as a result of existing international agreements.
- (c) At 1 January 1972 the United Kingdom duty was 22 per cent. ad valorem.
Statistics relating to heavy commercial vehicles are as follows. The figures for September 1981 are shown but not converted to an annual basis since this would be entirely speculative. Comparable figures for 1970 to 1973 are not available.
Economic Community, and between the United Kingdom and non-EEC countries, for each year since 1970 and for September 1981 grossed up at an annual rate.
§ Mr. SproatThe information is as follows:
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- (a) The present common customs tariff duty is 10.8 per cent ad valorem.
- (b) Under the Tokyo round of GATT multilateral trade negotiations this duty is due to be reduced by annual stages to 10 per cent. at 1 January 1987.
- (c) At 1 January 1972 the United Kingdom duty was 11 per cent.
Statistics relating to the imports and exports of cars are as follows. The figures for September 1981 are shown but not converted to an annual basis since this would be entirely speculative.
United Kingdom Imports and Exports of Cars 1970 to 1980 and September 1981 Year Trade with EEC Countries Trade with Non-EEC Countries Number Imports Value £'000 Number Exports Value £000 Number Imports Value £000 Number Exports Value £000 1970 134,349 68,901 146,646 50,464 24,498 17,055 546,515 279,204 1971 232,579 136,923 169,419 60,517 50,933 36,178 553,641 310,541 1972 330,391 236,715 163,013 59,455 123,497 90,024 465,061 271,191 1973 345,632 307,532 235,228 112,577 162,871 132,578 365,029 262,675 1974 248,319 245,590 161,258 86,796 129,334 111,700 408,324 339,366 1975 278,134 337,440 123,312 107,508 173,639 178,723 398,442 386,291 1976 361,727 643,243 134,919 178,379 176,058 245,910 370,737 475,992 1977 485,747 986,477 140,570 246,926 215,981 341,682 345,918 527,742 1978 548,211 1,288,490 127,698 285,283 258,727 485,586 350,880 659,561 1979 727,918 1,915,318 147,163 279,276 343,610 685,087 272,554 557,393 1980 555,345 1,513,094 128,361 274,502 316,696 595,004 236,753 561,394 September 1980 40,568 123,409 9,163 19,774 18,248 47,952 11,550 42,554