HC Deb 30 October 1984 vol 65 cc870-1W
Sir John Farr

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if, in view of the fact that Turkey overshipped her permitted quota of exports of T-shirts to the United Kingdom in 1983 by nearly 2 million units, or nearly 42 per cent., he will make arrangements to have this overshipment set off against its quota for imports of T-shirts to the United Kingdom in the current year.

Mr. Channon

The discrepancy between the permitted quota for these goods and the actual import figures is clue to the appearance in the statistics of "goods in transit" and "goods for re-export". Goods imported under licence for re-export are not counted against the permitted quota, nor are goods in transit at the date the quota came into force.

It is therefore not appropriate for these amounts to be offset against the quota levels for the current year.

Sir John Farr

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if, in view of the increase of 471 per cent. in the last two years of imports from Portugal of tracksuits to the United Kingdom, he will now seek to impose a voluntary restraint agreement;

(2) if, in view of the increase of 61 per cent. in the last two years of imports from Portugal of babies outerware to the United Kingdom, he will now seek to impose a voluntary restraint agreement;

(3) if, in view of the increase of 65 per cent. in the last two years of imports from Portugal of cat. 83 (other outerware) to the United Kingdom, he will now seek to impose a voluntary restraint agreement;

(4) if, in view of the increase of 98 per cent. in the last two years of imports from Portugal of cat. 13 (knickers and pants) to the United Kingdom, he will now seek to impose a voluntary restraint agreement;

(5) if, in view of the increase of 169 per cent. in the last two years of imports from Portugal of socks to the United Kingdom, he will now seek to impose a voluntary restraint agreement.

Mr. Channon

The Government appreciate the industry's concern about the increase in imports of certain products not covered by the Community's voluntary restraint arrangement with Portugal. The arrangement is voluntary, however, and Portuguese exports of textiles and clothing will be completely liberalised after the transitional period following Portugal's accession to the Community. Nevertheless, the Commission has recently obtained from the Portuguese assurances about their export of socks and knickers (not covered by the arrangement) for 1984, and their agreement to consult early in 1985 about stable export levels for those products in that year. Whilst it was not possible to meet all of the industry's concerns, we will continue to monitor the exports of products not covered by these arrangements.