§ Mr. RooneyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) if he will list the organisations he has consulted on the proposed stage 2 phase out of the multi-fibre agreement; [5446]
(2) how many responses he has received to the consultation on the proposed stage 2 of the phase-out of the multi-fibre agreement; and of these how many were in favour. [5471]
§ Mr. NelsonIn preparation for assessing the Commission's proposals about how the EU should implement stage 2 of the phase-out of the multi-fibre arrangement on 1 January 1998, my Department consulted the following organisations:678W
- Association of Independent Stores Ltd.
- British Apparel and Textiles Confederation2
- British Importers Confederation1
- British Polyolefin Textiles Association2
- British Retail Consortium1
- Burton Group plc
- Confederation of British Industry
- Coopers and Lybrand
- Dewhirst plc
- Institute of Directors
- International Textiles and Clothing Bureau1
- Littlewoods plc
- Local Action on Textiles and Clothing
- Marks and Spencer plc
- National Consumer Council
- Orbis Services
- Oxfam
- Scottish Cashmere Association2
- Sears plc1
- Trades Union Congress
- World Development Movement1
None of these organisations questioned the obligation to implement stage 2. As to whether stage 2 should include liberalisation of any products under quota, those marked1 in the list were in favour and those marked2 were opposed. The remainder expressed no view.