§ Mr. Proctorasked the Minister for Trade whether he has any plans to carry out a monitoring exercise to ascertain the costs of import controls both to industrial efficiency and the consumer; if he will estimate the cost of such an exercise; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter Rees[pursuant to his reply, 17 May 1982, c. 7]: The Government do, of course, weigh the impact on all groups when considering requests for import controls, and I have recently endorsed a proposal that the OECD should mount a study of the costs of protectionism. Moreover, the new Community procedure for the introduction of protective measures against imports from third countries now includes an open investigation process which will examine the effects of such measures on all parties prior to their introduction.