§ Mr. Leeasked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the total number of Common Market legal directives that have been issued having effect in the United Kingdom on the subject of unfair competition; how many of these have been implemented; how many have been disregarded; and how many there are which are the subject of United Kingdom Government consideration.
Mr. Alan WilliamsI have been asked to reply.
The rules on competition are set out in Articles 85–94 of the EEC treaty. In the area in which I understand my hon. Friend to be primarily interested, state aids, the Council adopted three consecutive directives, all of which have now lapsed, which, together with the relevant provisions of the treaty, regulated state aids to the shipbuilding industry. None of these was disregarded and a fourth, which recognises the need for specific
Chromium Platinum Tungsten Vanadium Molybdenum Metal, unwrought or wrought (and articles thereof) … … 143 11(a) 208 59 162 Ores and concentrates … … 197,616 (b) 3,365 (c) 13,950 Ferro-alloys … … … 77,213 — 335 446 880 Oxides, hydroxides, ashes and residues, etc. … … … 578 (c) 365 1,595 159 Notes: (a) Includes waste (including ash) and sweepings of other platinum group metals. (b) Imports of platinum ores are not separately distinguished in the Overseas Trade Statistics. Imports of ores of silver, platinum and platinum group metals in 1977 were valued at £61.7m (details of quantity are not available for publication). (c) Imports of the metal in this form are not separately distinguished in the Overseas Trade Statistics. No information is available about stocks of these metals, but information from commercial sources indicates that some 764 metric tonnes of tungsten ores and concentrates were held in consumer stocks as at 30th September 1977.