§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) whether the decision of eight European Economic Community countries to impose sanctions on Argentina was an individual decision or a collective decision under the Treaty of Rome; and, if collective, under which section or article of treaty the decision was made;
(2) whether article 13(1) of the Treaty of Rome was invoked by the European Economic Community ministerial council to impose sanctions on trade with Argentina.
§ Mr. HurdThe original decision in principle to impose an import ban on Argentine goods was taken on 10 April by Foreign Ministers of the Ten meeting in political cooperation. That decision was implemented by an EEC Council regulation under article 113 of the EEC Treaty for 429W EEC products, and by a decision of representatives of Government of member States of the ECSC, meeting within the Council, for ECSC products. The decision on 17 May was made in the same way by all EC members except Italy and Ireland. From 24 May, Denmark no longer applied the Community legislation but instead applied equivalent national measures under article 224 of the EEC Treaty. The United Kingdom import ban which predates the Community ban, was also notified under article 224 of the EEC Treaty.