HC Deb 26 June 1985 vol 81 cc396-7W
Mr. Moynihan

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the outcome of the European Community Councils of Industry Ministers on 3 June and of Research Ministers on 4 June.

Mr. Butcher

The Industry Council, at which I represented the UK, was the first to deal predominantly with telecommunications. It provided a valuable opportunity to exchange views on the progress of the Community's telecommunications initiative including standards policy and a draft directive on the mutual acceptance of test data for the type approval of telecommunicationss terminal equipment; intergovernmental video-conferencing; and, in preparation for the Research Council the following day, "RACE" (R and D in advanced communication technologies for Europe). We also discussed television broadcasting by satellite.

We agreed in principle that the Community should petition the United States for legal protection against the copying of semiconductor chip designs originated in the Community. I welcomed a report recommending changes to remove competitive disadvantages experienced by the biotechnology industry as a result of Community agricultural regimes, and it was agreed that these changes should be referred to Agriculture Ministers for urgent consideration.

The Research Council, at which the UK was represented by Sir Robin Nicholson (chief scientific adviser), reached a substantial degree of agreement on draft conclusions covering a package of measures including the terms on which the definition phase of RACE should proceed; procedures for considering wider European participation in large research facilities, including the spallation neutron source at the Rutherford Appleton laboratory; the site for the European synchrotron radiation facility; and the establishment of a tritium handling laboratory at the European Communities' joint research laboratory at Ispra in Italy. Final adoption of the conclusions was, however, deferred pending further consideration by France and the UK of their long-standing reservations on the tritium proposal in the context of the overall package now proposed. The UK has subsequently been able to lift its reserve.