§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade what Customs duties, import levies and other restrictions are now imposed on the United Kingdom imports from the Commonwealth of butter, cheese, lamb, beef, sugar, wheat, fruit and vegetables; and how these compare with 1972.
§ Mr. TebbitIn 1972 no import duty was charged in the United Kingdom on butter and wheat and the duty on lamb from all sources—except the Irish Republic—was £0.9335 per cwt. Under the Commonwealth preference arrangements, cheese, beef, fruit and vegetables were free of import duty. Certain types of sugar were charged a preferential rate of £1.0665 per ton whilst other types were free of duty. Imports of butter, sugar and potatoes required an individual import licence when imported from any source, and apples and pears from Canada and Nauru needed to be individually licensed when imported into the United Kingdom. Cheese, lamb, beef and wheat could be imported without restriction under the provision of the open general import licence of 30 June 1971.
Today imports of butter, cheese, wheat and sugar are subject to variable levies reflecting the differences between world prices and European Community prices, though in the case of sugar imports from Commonwealth countries covered by the Lomé convention and related agreements benefit from levy free access. Beef is subject to a Customs duty of 20 per cent. and a variable levy, though the majority 242W of Commonwealth imports benefit from special arrangements for reduced rates under the Lomé convention or preferential access under concessions granted in the GATT multilateral trade negotiations and other trade arrangements.
Examples of current rates of levy are as follows:
per tonne Butter £1,373.9 Cheese £1,151.4 Beef £1,185 Wheat .£48.6 Sugar Nil Imports of lamb are subject to a Customs duty of 20 per cent. whilst imports of fruit and vegetables are subject to various rates of duty as set out in Her Majesty's Customs and Excise tariff, a copy of which is in the Library of the House—the relevant tariff headings are 07.01 and 08.01 to 08.09 inclusive. The Commonwealth countries covered by the Lomé convention benefit from preferential access to the European Community for a range of fruits and vegetables—details are impart 10E to the Customs tariff.
In addition, under arrangements currently existing, New Zealand benefits from access to the United Kingdom market for 115,000 tonnes of butter at a reduced rate of levy, whilst New Zealand and certain other Commonwealth countries enjoy preferential access to the European Community for cheese.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the calculated impact on United Kingdom exports of manufactures of the loss of Commonwealth preference and the imposition of tariffs against imports of United Kingdom manufactures by Commonwealth countries since 1972.
§ Mr. TebbitWe do not have any estimates of the impact on United Kingdom exports of manufactures of the loss or Commonwealth preference and the imposition of tariffs against imports of United Kingdom manufactures by Commonwealth countries since 1972.