§ Mr. MANDERasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is proposing to take steps to revise the terms of appointment of the committee set up under the Dyestuffs Import Regulation Act, with a view to carrying out the undertakings given that dyes will be available in the home market of the same quality and on the same terms as foreign dyes?
§ Mr. W. GRAHAMThe committee to which the hon. Member referred is an advisory committee constituted in accordance with the provisions of Section 2 (3) of the Dyestuffs (Import Regulation) Act, 1920. It has no special terms of reference. The House will remember that during the recent discussions on the future of this Act, the dyestuff makers declared their willingness to agree that applications for licences to import, on the ground of differences between the prices quoted by British and foreign makers respectively, should be granted if British makers would not supply at the foreign prices, so long as such prices were not what they termed dumping prices. I assumed (and I may say that the advisory committee agreed) that the makers in using the word "dumping" in this connection had regard to the possibility of foreign makers offering dyes for use in this country at prices below those at which they were selling in other countries.
807WIn the circumstances, I suggested to the committee that the grant of licences should henceforth be in accordance with that principle, and that the onus of proof that the foreign prices quoted are of the nature of "dumping" prices should rest with the British makers. The committee unanimously agreed that this procedure should be adopted.