§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the nature of the agreement made between the Common Market and Israel in May 1975 which prevented member states from imposing any new restrictions on trade with Israel; and whether the agreement was approved by a formal Council of Ministers and by the United Kingdom Parliament.
§ Mr. ChannonThe agreement of 1975 between the European Economic Community and the state of Israel is one of a number of preferential trade agreements which the Community has concluded with the countries of the Mediterranean basin. It is reproduced in full in theOfficial Journal of the European Communities (L136 of 28 May 1975) and was presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs—Cmnd. 6249 of October 1975. Regulation 1274/75, published in the same Official Journal signified the Council's approval of this agreement. An explanatory memorandum on the proposal for this agreement was submitted at the time by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the House of Commons Select Committee on Secondary European Legislation, which, at its meeting on 8 April 1975, declared this proposal to be of legal and political importance but made no recommendation for its further debate in the House.