§ Mr. Martenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the current tariff, duty or other taxes or levies, imposed as the result of the United Kingdom's membership of the EEC, on food imports from non-EEC countries for bacon, ham, carcase meat and offals, lamb, wheat, flour, butter, cheese, oils, fats, canned vegetables, citrus fruit, apples and pears expressed in pence per pound or other similar measurement in the currency and weight in which the average shopper purchases and as a percentage of the wholesale price.
§ Mr. BishopCurrent rates of duty are published in the United Kingdom Customs Tariff, a copy of which is in the Library of the House. Rates of levy,312W which vary from time to time, are published in the Official Journal of the European Communities and may be obtained from the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce.
Within the categories of produce indicated there are many individual items attracting different rates of duty or levy, some calculated by reference to quantity and other ad valorem. Some duty rates vary according to the country of origin and some are subject to seasonal variation. All items are subject to variations in quality, grading and presentation so that the incidence of charges expressed in the terms specified varies considerably. There are also difficulties in identifying reasonably representative wholesale prices for comparison with import charges on all the categories specified. Consequently calculations to produce an answer in the terms requested could be undertaken only at disproportionate cost and the results would be incomplete and of limited validity.