§ Mr. Banksasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will set out in the Official Report the numbers of cases reported to his Department of import dumping in the United Kingdom of textiles and clothing, the numbers investigated, and the numbers where shipments were subsequently held from release, in the whole of the last full year and for each month of 1980.
§ Mr. TebbitMy Department receives numerous complaints about imports of low cost textiles and clothing, many of which also allege dumping. It is not possible to isolate the latter. Responsibility for taking action against dumped imports rests with the European Commission and during 1979 and 1980 it initiated formal anti-dumping investi-98W gations covering textile and clothing products as follows:
1979 2 1980(February) 1 In one case duties were imposed against the United States and price undertakings negotiated with exporters from Spain and Japan. The other two are still under investigation. Low cost imports of textiles and clothing are usually dealt with by the Community not through anti-dumping procedures but by quotas and restraints negotiated as part of the multi-fibre arrangement and a range of complementary arrangements which cover 93 per cent. of all low cost textile and clothing imports.