§ Mr. Woolmerasked the Secretary of State for Trade it he will veto the EEC direction on outward processing of textile goods at present before the Council of Ministers, in view of the lack of any justification and research into its overall effects on the locational patterns of the European clothing industries.
§ Mr. Parkinson[pursuant to his reply. 29 November 1979]: Textiles outward processing is already taking place within separate restraint levels agreed between the EEC and certain supplying countries and the proposed regulation would introduce arrangements for administering such 867W trade. The terms of the regulation are still under discussion within the Community, and the United Kingdom attitude will depend on the outcome of these discussions.
§ Mr. Woolmerasked the Secretary of State for Trade what informal arrangements have been agreed with Premier Hua of China, and his trade delegation, on his recent visit to the United Kingdom, regarding compensatory trade in textiles and clothing goods for export to the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Parkinson[pursuant to his reply, 29 November 1979]; None. Trade in textiles between the United Kingdom and China is governed by the bilateral textiles agreement between the EEC and China.
§ Mr. Woolmerasked the Secretary of State for Trade how many investigations into alleged subsidised, unfair or illegal trade practices in textiles and clothing products have been initiated and completed by his Department and the European Commission since 1 January 1978; if he will give deails of source of complaint, date of commencement, date of completion, and action as result for each product; and if he will press upon the Commission the need for all such investigations to be completed within one month.
§ Mr. Parkinson[pursuant to his reply, 29 November 1979]: One anti-dumping investigation involving textiles or clothing products has been initiated and completed by the EEC Commission since 1 January 1978. The products concerned were high tenacity—industrial—yarns—polyamide and polyester. The source was the United States of America. The investigation opened on 17 May 1978 and closed on 28 April 1979. Dumping was found in the case of polyamide yarn and a satisfactory undertaking was given by the United States exporter concerned. The polyester yarn was found not to be dumped.
Investigation into illegal trade practices have been carried out where origin frauds were suspected. Information relating to prosecutions in such cases were given to the hon. Member in the reply given by my hon. and learned Friend, the Minister of State. Treasury, on 29 November.
The Commission complete its investigations as swiftly as possible.
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§ Mr. Woolmerasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he intends to agree to the European Commission proposal, dated 10 August, adjusting the national shares in respect of certain quantitative limits on imports of textile products originating in third countries; and if he will make a statement on how this affects the negotiations for the 1982 multi-fibre arrangement.
§ Mr. Parkinson[pursuant to his reply. 29 November 1979]: The proposal was adopted on 18 September, after amendment to meet the requirements of member States, including the United Kingdom. The proposal will have no effect on negotiations for an arrangement to succeed the present MFA.
§ Mr. Woolmerasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will raise with the European Commission the need to shift the responsibility for proving dumping of textile and clothing goods from the domestic industry and trade associations to the importer.
§ Mr. Parkinson[pursuant to his reply, 29 November 1979]; No. Responsibility for demonstrating that a product has been dumped into the Community rests not with the domestic industry or trade association but with the European Commission. An EEC industry which considers that it is being injured by allegedly dumped imports is asked to supply reasonable evidence to support its allegation of dumping and to show that such dumping is causing or threatening material injury. This procedure is in accordance with the internationally agreed GATT anti-dumping code.
§ Mr. Woolmerasked the Secretary of State for Trade, in view of the considerable negotiating delay that was experienced in the 12 months before the renewal date of 1 January 1978 for the present 1978–82 multi-fibre arrangement and the delay in implementing detailed quota and growth rates for textile products which led to a considerable weakening of the cempetitive position of domestic textile industries, if he will reconsider his view that there is no need to initiate negotiations with the European Commission and with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade textiles committee before 1981 for the renewal of the multi-fibre arrangement for 1982 onwards.
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§ Mr. Parkinson[pursuant to his reply, 29 November 1979]: I know that the current MFA bilateral agreements had to be negotiated over a very short period in order to be brought into effect on 1 January 1978, though in the event there was no delay in doing this. We shall certainly seek to ensure that negotiations for a successor arrangement to the present MFA are entered into in good time; the current arrangement has, however, over two years still to run and it would be premature to enter into such negotiations at this stage.