§ Mr. Gouldasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what restrictions are imposed on the imports of beef and other foods into the United Kingdom from outside the Common Market.
§ Mr. Bishop, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 7th May 1976; Vol. 910. c. 497], gave the following information:
Subject to the terms of the Treaty of Accession, the United Kingdom operates Community arrangements governing imports from non-member States. At present these arrangements limit imports in the beef sector to those under the EEC GATT quotas for frozen beef and for Alpine and mountain cattle; quotas of beef from ACP countries; quotas of young animals intended mainly for fattening; and imports under the "jumelage" scheme. Community arrangements also permit member States temporarily to retain national quotas for certain vegetables from Eastern area countries, and there are temporary quantitative restrictions on canned mushrooms from third countries.
Under continuing national arrangements the United Kingdom bans the imports of main crop potatoes, except in seasons when the Government judge that home supplies are insufficient to meet demand in full. Imports of new potatoes are usually banned in September and October only. We also maintain a quantitative restriction on bananas from the dollar area, which includes the major banana exporting countries of Central and South America. The United Kingdom also imposes a wide range of controls on imported foods for the protection of human, animal and plant health.
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