§ Mr. SimpsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many cycles were imported from(a) China and (b) south-east Asia as a whole in each of the last five years; what has been the allotted quota for each of these years; and by what month in the year the quota was exceeded. [2440]
§ Mr. OppenheimThe figures for imports of bicycles from China and south-east Asia for 1990 to 1994 are given in table 1. There are no import quotas for bicycles. However, a "ceiling" on duty-free imports of bicycles into the EC under the previous generalised system of preferences scheme was introduced in 1991. When a ceiling was reached, full import duty could be reimposed at the request of a member state. Duty was reimposed on imports of bicycles from a number of countries in south-east Asia at various points—in some instances, at the request of the United Kingdom. Details of ceilings and duty reimpositions under the GSP scheme are provided in table 2. A revised EC GSP scheme introduced from 1 January this year contains no limits on the amount of a product that could be imported under it. Instead, a fixed rate of reduced duty is applied to sensitive products. In the case of bicycles this is set at 70 per cent. of the full duty.
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Table 2: GSP Ceilings Year EC ceiling (ECUs) Country Ceiling reached1 Duty reimposed 1991 9,004,000 China 14 June 10 September 1992 9,454,000 China 27 March 12 May Indonesia 21 August 22 November Thailand 21 August 22 November 1993 9,454,000 China 8 February 14 May Indonesia 6 August 5 December Malaysia 6 August 30 November Thailand 6 August 5 December South Korea 1 December 19942 January to June 4,727,000 Indonesia 22 July Malaysia 22 July Thailand 22 July South Korea 22 May July to December 4,727,000 India 17 November Malaysia 9 November Thailand 1 December 1 The date on which the United Kingdom were notified that the ceiling was reached. 2 The GSP scheme was under review in 1994 and was operated as two separate six monthly schemes in that year.