§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on how many occasions in each of the last five years article 36 has been used by other European Community states, and by which countries, to ban imports from the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. RedwoodThis information is not available. There is no general requirement under the treaty of Rome for EC member states to notify the European Commission of prohibitions or restrictions on imports justified on the grounds specified in article 36 of the treaty of Rome. Prohibitions or restrictions on the free movement of goods within the Community normally come to light as a result of complaints by the firms or individuals affected by them. The European Commission examines over a thousand such cases each year, although by no means all of them relate to prohibitions or restrictions justified under article 36 itself.
For their part, the Government are keen to promote free movement of goods throughout the Community, and to that end has set up a single market compliance unit within the Department of Trade and Industry. The compliance unit stands ready to pursue vigorously any well-founded complaints about prohibitions or restrictions elsewhere in the Community which affect import from the United Kingdom. In some cases, however, we would accept that certain prohibitions or restrictions, such as those on pornography, are fully justified under article 36 and we would not therefore press for their removal.