§ Lieut.-Colonel Bromley - Davenportasked the President of the Board of Trade how many cases have so far been referred to him for action under the Customs Duties (Dumping and Subsidies) Act; whether he will give particulars about such cases; and to what extent he is relying on trade and industry submitting cases to him for action or upon action initiated by his own officials.
§ Sir D. EcclesFour applications have so far been received. The first was for a countervailing duty on subsidised new potatoes from France during part of May and June. Following representations from Her Majesty's Government, the French Government suspended the subsidy.
An application for an anti-dumping duty on tomatoes from the Canary Islands was rejected on 27th May.
The two other applications are still under consideration. One of them (an application for an anti-dumping duty on polymethylsiloxane fluids and emulsions from France) was advertised on 21st June and comments are awaited from interested parties. The fourth application is still under preliminary examination and it would not be appropriate to give details of it at this stage.
As I said during the debates when the Act was before Parliament, I look to industry to take the initiative in applying for the use of powers under the Act.