§ Mr. Altonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on Government policy on the future use of British Standards, the kite mark, 464W following the statement by Lord Cockfield regarding inter-state reciprocal acceptance of standards by European Community member states.
§ Mr. ButcherThe Government policy on the use of standards and certification for regulatory purposes, as set out in the White Paper, "Standards, Quality and International Competitiveness" (Cmnd. 8621), is that regulatory bodies should henceforth express technical requirements by reference to suitable British standards. The White Paper also reaffirmed the United Kingdom's commitment to harmonising standards within the European Community in support of the programme for the elimination of technical barriers to trade under article 100 of the Treaty of Rome. The Government therefore support fully current initiatives under which member states would adopt a new approach to technical harmonisation and standardisation along the lines proposed in the Commission's communication of 31 January 1985 to the European Parliament and to the Council (Cmnd. (85) 19 final).