§ 31. Mr. McNallyasked the Secretary of State for Trade by what means his Department is monitoring trade with Japan after the agreement between the European Economic Community and Japan; and if he will make a statement.
§ 36. Mr. Hal Millerasked the Secretary of State for Trade whether conclusions can yet be drawn from the surveillance of the five sensitive items of trade between the European Economic Community and Japan.
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§ Mr. BiffenComplete figures are not yet available, but Japanese official statistics suggest that imports into the 10 EC member States from Japan of passenger cars and colour TVs probably dropped slightly in volume terms in the first 11 months of 1981, by comparison with the same period of 1980. Imports of TV tubes rose by about 9 per cent. Though imports of numerically controlled (nc) lathes fell by almost 32 per cent., the volume of nc machining centres increased around 26 per cent.
With the help of our embassy in Tokyo, we shall monitor carefully the effects of the new Japanese measures to stimulate imports, in particular the effectiveness of the office of Ombudsman. Neither on imports nor on exports has the Japanese Government reached any agreement with the Community.