§ Mr. Douglas-Mannasked the Secretary of State for Trade from what firms com- 558W panies and organisations he has received representations about alleged dumping of rubberised garments in the United Kingdom; what is the total volume and value of United Kingdom sales of such garments; what proportion is represented by imports and what proportion of such imports were alleged to have been sold at artificially low prices; how many employees in the United Kingdom are engaged in the production of such garments; what action his Department has taken as a result of such representations and with what result; and what is his estimate of the cost expressed either in terms of the time of officials or money or both, of taking such action.
§ Mr. DellFollowing representations by the major United Kingdom producers of ladies' rubberised fabric raincoats an anti-dumping investigation was carried out into imports of such raincoats from Hong Kong and the Republic of Korea. As a result it was concluded that imports from Hong Kong had taken place at dumped prices with consequent material injury to the United Kingdom industry, and that it would be in the national interest to take action against them. Accordingly, an anti-dumping duty of £1.50 per raincoat was imposed from 21st May 1976. No action was taken against imports from the Republic of Korea as no evidence of dumping was found.
Details of the United Kingdom sales of these raincoats and the effect of imports were given to the Department in commercial confidence and cannot be disclosed. The officials concerned were during the period of the investigation involved in several other cases. It would, therefore, be virtually impossible to estimate with any accuracy the time and/or money expended on the investigation.