§ 55. Sir Anthony Meyerasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress there has been towards the dismantling of non-tariff barriers to trade within the European Economic Community during the last 12 months.
§ Mr. Alexander FletcherAt the Internal Market Councils in the past 12 months a good start has been made to removing non-tariff bariers within the Community.
A number of measures have been adopted which will simplify formalities in trade, including a regulation introducing simpler arrangements for the movement of goods consigned from one member state for temporary use in one or more member states; a directive on the facilitation of formalities and checks at intra-Community frontiers and two directives on tax exemptions on temporary imports of certain means of transport and permanent imports of personal property. Work has proceeded on the proposals for a single administrative document for customs purposes; agreement has been reached on a reduced and harmonised list of data which member states may require in intra-Community trade.
A directive has been adopted requiring member states to prenotify new national standards and regulations, thereby reducing the potential for new non-tariff barriers in the future. Work is proceeding on a new Commission initiative to streamline standards making procedures within the Community. A number of individual directives have also been adopted in the fields of proprietary medicinal products, company law, foodstuffs and motor vehicle insurance. In addition at the November Internal Market Council agreement in principle was reached 15 standards harmonising directives on industrial products.