§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) whether he will make a statement on Part 37 of the Secondary Legislation of the European Economic Community Regulation No. 430/72 of 29th February, 1972, dealing with rice; to what extent this will affect British industry; and what discussions he has had, or intends to have, with British interests on this Regulation;
(2) whether he will make a statement on Part 37 of the Secondary Legislation of the European Economic Community Regulation No. 363/72 of 21st February, 1972 dealing with rice; to what extent this will affect British industry; and what discussions he has had, or intends to have, with British interests on this Regulation.
§ Mr. Anthony StodartThese Regulations make minor changes in the Community's arrangements for rice and broken rice imported from former French territories. They are unlikely to have any significant effect on British industry.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make a statement on Part 28 of the Secondary Legislation of the European Economic Community Regulation No. 534/72 of 15th March, 1972 dealing with fruit and vegetables; to what extent this will affect British industry; and what discussions he has had, or intends to have, with British interests on this Regulation.
§ Mr. Anthony StodartThis Regulation specifies a new variety of outdoor table grape being grown in France as a small berry variety for the purpose of the common quality standards. It will not affect British industry.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make a statement on Part 28 of the Secondary Legislation of the European Economic Community Regulation No. 758/72 of 2nd March, 1972 dealing with fruit and vegetables; to what extent this 157W will affect British industry; and what discussions he has had, or intends to have, with British interests in this Regulation.
§ Mr. Anthony StodartRegulation 758/72 does not fall within Part 28. It fixes levies for olive oil.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make a statement on Part 22 of the Secondary Legislation of the European Economic Community Regulation No. 609/72 or 23rd March,1972 dealing with certain processed agricultural products, i.e., goods not covered by Annex 11 of the European Economic Community Treaty; to what extent this will affect British industry; and what discussions he has had, or intends to have, with British interests on this Regulation.
§ Mr. Anthony StodartThis regulation empowers the Commission when Community supplies of a basic agricultural product have to be safeguarded, to take exceptional measures to prevent the large-scale export of certain processed foods which contain a high content of that product. The Commission must consult Member States before taking such action and take account of the interests of the processing industries. We would consult the appropriate British trade interests on any specific proposals which would be in force at our accession.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make a statement on Part 16 of the Secondary Legislation of the European Economic Community Regulation No. 280/72 of 8th February, 1972 dealing with certificates, levies, restitution, etc; to what extent this will affect British industry; and what discussions he has had, or intends to have, with British interests on this Regulation.
§ Mr. Anthony StodartThe principal effect of this regulation is to restrict to 30 days the period of validity of a licence to import cereals or (from certain areas) rice. If still operative at the date of accession, it may affect our importers' ability to enter into forward contacts. The views of United Kingdom importers on this matter are known to my right hon. Friend.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 158W whether he will make a statement on Part 24 of the Secondary Legislation of the European Economic Community Regulation No. 457/72 of 2nd March, 1972 dealing with fisheries; to what extent this will affect British industry; and what discussions he has had or intends to have with British interests on this Regulation.
§ Mr. Anthony StodartAids given by Member States to encourage the formation and facilitate the operation of producers' organisations of the type envisaged by the common fisheries policy may not exceed prescribed percentages of administrative expenses. Regulation 457/72, which defines the expenses to be taken into account for this purpose, will fall to be applied as and when such organisations are formed and recognised in the United Kingdom, and it is being borne in mind in our continuing discussions of future arrangements with representatives of British producers.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make a statement on Part 41 of the Secondary Legislation of the European Economic Community Regulation No. 2647/71 of 14th December, 1971 dealing with wine; to what extent this will affect British industry; and what discussions he has had, or intends to have, with British interests on this Regulation.
§ Mr. PriorThe effect of this regulation was to prohibit the making of storages contracts in respect of certain wines after 15th December, 1971. Storage aid is related to excess production of wine of fresh grapes, which is not a situation expected to arise for English wine producers and there have therefore been no discussions.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make a statement on Part 41 of the Secondary Legislation of the European Economic Community Regulation No. 2830/71 of 24th December, 1971, dealing with wine; to what extent this will affect British industry; and what discussions he has had, or intends to have, with British interests on this Regulation.
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§ Mr. PriorThe Regulation to which the hon. Member refers had the effect of postponing from 1st January, 1972 to 1st April, 1972 the operative date of European Economic Community Regulation 1599 of 1971 which fixed additional conditions with which imported wines for direct human consumption have to comply.
Since the only effect of this Regulation was to delay for three months the date upon which Regulation 1599 was to come into force, no discussions took place in view of the negligible effect on United Kingdom interests.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make a statement on Part 41 of the Secondary Legislation of the European Economic Community Regulation No. 245/72 of 2nd February, 1972 dealing with wine; to what extent this will affect British industry; and what discussions he has had, or intends to have, with British interests on this Regulation.
§ Mr. PriorUnder the terms of this regulation Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey will observe the EEC reference prices when exporting wines to the Community. The regulation will apply in the United Kingdom as from 1st January, 1973. Any effect will depend on the level of reference prices then operating but the effect for importers is likely to be negligible and there have, therefore, been no discussions.