§ Mr. Berminghamasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether, in the light of the number of redundancies in the glass industry, he will take steps to limit the penetration of the United Kingdom market for flat glass and fibre glass by foreign companies; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ChannonIt would be wrong to place a protective barrier around the United Kingdom glass industry purely to limit import penetration. However, we are fully prepared to offer every assistance to enable industry to make a case to the European Commission when imports are dumped or subsidised and are causing material injury to United Kingdom manufacturers. Indeed, on 18 June 1983 the Commission imposed provisional duties on imports of fibre glass from Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic and Japan, in response to complaints by Community producers.