§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Trade if there has been any change in the competence of the EEC Commission to sign the general agreement on tariffs and trade trade agreements and associated codes in the latest round of the general agreement on tariffs and trade multilateral trade negotiations as compared with the previous round of such negotiations.
§ Mr. ParkinsonOnly two of the agreements reached in 1967 at the end of the Kennedy round are comparable with agreements reached in 1979 in the Tokyo round.
The position on competence in respect of the tariff concessions was the same each time—the protocols were signed by the EEC in respect of products covered by the EEC Treaty, and by the member States in respect of those covered by the European Coal and Steel Community(ECSC) treaty.
In 1967 both the member States and the EEC were parties to the anti-dumping 202W agreement, as the powers of the Commission under the ECSC treaty in relation to dumping had not then been exercised. By 1979 they had been, and only the EEC was a party to the 1979 anti-dumping agreement. The change involves no practical difference in the operation of anti-dumping procedures.