§ Mr. Shersbyasked the Secretary of State for Trade how cargo sharing under the United Nations convention or a code of conduct for liner conferences will be controlled and supervised as between exporting and importing countries; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. EyreThe then Under-Secretary of State for Trade replied to a written parliamentary question on the United Nations liner code convention on 17 May 1979.
In his reply he explained that agreement had been reached on a European Community regulation which opened the way for member States to become contracting parties to the code subject to certain reservations which will disapply the code's cargo-sharing provisions between the member States and other OECD countries, parties to the code.
The Department of Trade is presently consulting interested parties about proposals concerning the new legislation which will be required before the United Kingdom can accede to the code convention. These consultations are taking place on the basis of a consultative paper issued by the Department on 15 August 1980. I am making copies of this paper available in the House of Commons Library.