§ Mr. LeighTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what steps are taken by his Department to monitor the burden on business of voluntary agreements.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkVoluntary restraint arrangements do not impose any special administrative or legal burdens on United Kingdom business but have an economic impact. In looking at the net effect of such arrangements on the United Kingdom economy as a whole, my Department examines the effect on the industry concerned as well as that on industrial and other users.
§ Mr. FallonTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Darlington on 30 March,Official Report, column 478, he will list the nature of each voluntary restraint agreement to which he refers.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkAs indicated in my written answer of 30 March, at column478–79, the majority of the voluntary restraint agreements are negotiated between the United Kingdom industry and its counterpart overseas. The agreements negotiated by the European Commission on steel and textiles (and those with Japan which were brought to an end in 1985) were entered into on behalf of 171W the Community as a whole. The Commission does negotiate restraints on footwear with certain eastern European countries on behalf of the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. FallonTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to what extent the United Kingdom has been party to discussions on inter-industry voluntary restraint agreements within the framework of the general agreement on tariffs and trade round negotiations; and what conclusions have been reached.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkThe Community was party to the agreement reached by Ministers of the contracting parties to the general agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT) in September 1986 that all trade restrictive or distorting measures inconsistent with GATT should be phased out or brought into conformity with GATT by the date of the formal completion of the Uruguay round of multilateral trade negotiations. There have been no substantive discussions to date on the relationship to GATT of industry-to-industry voluntary restraint agreements.
§ Mr. FallonTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether he will list those restraint agreements on steel applicable to the United Kingdom, giving the date of commencement and extent of each such agreement.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkAs part of the Community's external regime on steel, the European Commission negotiates restraint arrangements on behalf of all member states of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). There are currently agreements with the following major suppliers.
Country Year commenced Austria 1978 Finland 1978 Norway 1978 Sweden 1978 Bulgaria 1979 Czechoslovakia 1978 Hungary 1978 Poland 1978 Romania 1978 Brazil 11979 21985 Republic of Korea 1978 Venezuela 1987 1 pig iron only 2 other steel product These agreements apply to EEC products only. They are negotiated annually, commencing 1 January.
In addition, there is an inter-industry agreement on special steels from Spain, which we understand is negotiated on an annual basis during the period of Spanish transition to full Community obligations.
Mr. Ted GarrettTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will take steps to restrain imports of flexible manufacturing systems from Japan and Taiwan; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkNo. There is an inter-industry restraint arrangements on machining centres and numerically controlled lathes from Japan.