§ 93. Viscount Lambtonasked the Lord Privy Seal if he will propose to the Commission of the European Economic Community in Brussels that English should now be made an official European language.
§ Mr. HeathThe Community cannot be expected to make languages other than those of its members official, but we naturally expect that, if we join the Community, English will become one of them.
§ 97. Mr. Oramasked the Lord Privy Seal if he will state the total annual value of United Kingdom imports of those commodities for which he is seeking or has sought a nil tariff in his negotiations with the European Economic Community; what is the annual value of the United Kingdom imports of commodities on which a nil tariff has been conceded; and what percentage each of these figures represents of the total United Kingdom imports which would be subject to the Community's external common tariff on the basis of its present coverage.
§ Mr. HeathThe answer to the first part of the Question is £435 million. This figure excludes petroleum products, for which the Common External Tariff has not yet been fixed, and certain requests which have since been withdrawn. The answer to the second part 65W of the Question is £135 million. In addition, provisional agreement has been reached on duty free import quotas up to the full level of United Kingdom domestic requirements for commodities on which we asked for nil tariffs and imports of which into the United Kingdom in 1961 totalled £110 million. The answer to the last part of the Question cannot at present be given, since it depends on the treatment of imports from the Commonwealth and upon other factors which are still the subject of negotiation in Brussels.