§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement concerning the meeting of Ministers of the Council of the European Economic Community held on Monday 23 June relating to the establishment of the internal market.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkThe Council, which I attended, took note of the new Presidency programme, details of which I gave in my reply to the hon. Member for Newham, South on 25 June,Official Report, column 178. Among individual measures discussed, the Council agreed in principle, subject to a United Kingdom parliamentary scrutiny reserve, a proposal for a Council directive on 251W direct satellite television broadcasting. The Council agreed a resolution on a better seasonal and geographical distribution of tourism, and made progress on directives on spcific training in general medical practice and on the legal protection of topographies of semi-conductor products. It discussed proposals for directives coordinating member states' laws relating to commercial agents, on pharmaceutical products and high technology medicinal products, on technical standards for a number of industrial products including self-propelled industrial trucks and household appliances, on rights of residence and on the first stage of the gradual abolition of controls and formalities applicable to member states' nationals when crossing infra-Community borders. The Council also discussed a communication on Community patents and a Council recommendation on fire safety in hotels, and had an initial exchange of views on a Commission proposal relating to public contracts.