§ Mr. Ovendenasked the Secretary of State for Trade what action he has taken following the breakdown of negotiations with the United Kingdom's former EFTA partners over the future of the duty-free quota system, particularly as they relate to paper products; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MeacherIt is not correct to speak of a breakdown of negotiations in relation to duty-free quotas for paper. The exchange of letters made at the time of the United Kingdom's accession to the EEC provided for a review of the arrangements, but it has always been clear that any changes would have to apply equally to all the former EFTA partners and be acceptable to both sides as well as Community colleagues.
In the event it was not possible to agree on mutually acceptable changes, and the quotas for 1977 were discussed within the original framework. Although this does not provide for any downward revisions it does allow quotas to be held at the levels fixed for the previous year, and this has been done, except for increases in three Finnish quotas for bulk grades of packaging papers. Two of these are for types of paper not made in the United Kingdom and the three together result in 282W an increase of no more than 1¾ per cent. over the present level. An order to this effect will shortly be laid before the House.
The special importance of paper exports to the Finnish economy is recognised by the EEC and the Finnish Free Trade Agreement alone among the EFTA countries contains a declaration to this effect. Such a small increase for such a limited range of products in respect of a single country's exports to us cannot cause any increase in unemployment.