§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what representations his Department has made to the Hungarian Government about the restrictive quotas applied to Scotch whisky and other imported spirits.
§ Mr. NeedhamMy Department has a close working relationship with the scotch whisky industry both through the Scotch Whisky Association and through many individual producers. Some of the larger companies have offices in Budapest and are well known to British embassy officials.
Through this network we have been aware of the difficulties which importers of spirits face in this market for some considerable time, and have raised these when appropriate with Hungarian counterparts. We have also been active in giving support to the industry's representations to the Hungarian Administration. In some areas—for example, labelling—progress has been made.
The Hungarian quota system for imported spirits remains a concern and one which has been exacerbated by 772W the announcement of what appear to be even more restrictive terms for the current year. We are now considering what might be done, balancing the needs of the industry with our experience of the Hungarian market as one in which insensitive lobbying can be counter-productive.