§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade whether he will publish in the Official Report a statement showing for each chapter of the Standard Industrial Trade Classification sections 5, 6, 7 and 8 the estimated reduction in the EEC tariff agreed in the course of the Tokyo round.
§ Mr. SproatInformation is not available in the form requested and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The average trade-weighted reduction in the EEC tariff is from 9.8 per cent. to 7.5 per cent. The tariff agreements reached in the Tokyo round negotiations are described in the White Paper "The Multilateral Trade Negotiations 1973–79", Cmnd 7724, and the outcome for important products in these sections is generally described in paragraphs 10, 15, 17, 19 and 21. Full details of the EC's tariff concessions are in its schedule to the Geneva (1979) protocol to the GATT, which is in the Library.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade whether the EEC countries are bound individually as well as collectively by the tariff reductions made in the Tokyo round of tariff negotiations.
§ Mr. SproatYes. The individual member States of the Community as well as the European Economic Community itself are signatories to the Geneva (1979) Protocol to the GATT, because it affects, as well as others, coal and steel products covered by the treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community. The signatures of Belgium and Greece are still subject to ratification. The member States are in any case bound individually by agreements concluded by the EEC by virtue of article 228 of the EC Treaty.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will publish in the Official Report the timetable for the tariff reductions agreed in the Tokyo Round.
§ Mr. SproatMost of the cuts in industrial tariffs will be implemented in eight equal annual stages between 1 77W January 1980 and 1 January 1987. There are, however, a number of exceptions. For the European Community certain sensitive tariff cuts will not begin until 1982: these are on steel, textiles—other than silk—ceramic products, titanium and a few chemical products. In addition, the reduction on most types of kraft paper and board will not begin until 1 January 1983. The European Community has reserved its right to stop the tariff cuts after five stages in 1984 without proceeding to the last three stages, if it judges that the economic or other circumstances at the time require this.