§ 19. Mr. Shersbyasked the Secretary of State for Trade what representations he has made to the European Communities Commission concerning the need for a satisfactory proposal under the inwards processing relief directive to deal with more anomalous cases where the duty payable on the residual product of an inward processing operation is higher than the duty payable on the same material imported in its own right; and when he expects that a formal proposal will be agreed.
§ Mr. EyreArticle 18 of Council directive No. 69/73/EEC provides for the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission, to draw up a list of secondary products resulting from inward processing operations which, when put on the home market, are to be subject to the import charges appropriate to those products and not to the imported goods. The Commission is in the process of discussing the terms of such a proposal with member States and we are pressing on it the need to make urgent progress, but I regret that it is not possible to say when it will make a formal proposal to the Council.