HC Deb 30 March 1982 vol 21 cc55-6W
Mr. Iain Mills

asked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will make a statement on the current state of negotiations on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade agreement on industrial counterfeiting.

Mr. Sproat

Negotiations in the GATT for an agreement on counterfeiting are continuing, with the

Firework injuries in Great Britain
(4 week period in October-November)
Year 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977
Place of Accident Total 681 555 745 953 733
1 Family or private party 231 168 239 359 275
2 Semi-public party (eg Scouts, cricket club) 58 47 135 175 144
3 Large public display 101 95
4 Casual incident in street, etc. 229 194 290 350 258
5 Other place 46 31 52 51 56
6 Indoors* 16 20 29 18
Type of Firework
1 Banger 167 135 190 212 178
2 Rocket 102 66 73 122 87
3 Roman candle, coloured fire, etc. 107 81 124 160 112
4 Home-made or extracted powder 26 19 34 39 19
5 Other proprietary fireworks of which: 64 46 65 107 92
5.1 Flyabout† 15
6 Sparklers 48 33 48 71 65
7 Unspecified type 167 175 211 242 245
Severity of Injury
1 Fatal injury — — — — —
2 Detained more than one night 24 46 49 65 71
3 Sufficient to cause absence from work or equivalent 62 82 97 119 89
4 Minor injury 531 403 565 730 539
5 Unspecified injury 64 24 34 39 33
Eye injuries (included in 2–5) 261 261 310 363 276
Age Group of Injured Persons
Over20 132 100 146 170 145
16–20 89 66 80 70 40
13–15 173 151 211 226 190
Under 13 287 238 308 487 358
* Included in "other place" prior to 1978.
† Included in other proprietary fireworks from 1978.
Firework injuries in England and Wales

(4 week period in October-November)
Year 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977
Place of Accident Total 646 525 715 912 709
1 Family or private party 224 163 233 345 272
2 Semi-public party (eg Scouts, cricket club) 50 47 128 164 138
3 Large public display 94 90

importance of the issue being emphasised by the United States and the European Community. There are, however, difficulties over the text of the agreement and because some countries do not see it as particularly relevant to their trade needs. Others doubt whether the GATT is the appropriate international forum. The Government hope that these problems may be solved in the framework of the GATT ministerial meeting in November 1982.