§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what arrangements the European Community had for the import of rice from its overseas community territories; in what quantities and from which territories; what changed arrangements have now been made for each of these territories and for what reasons; and what treaty instruments and administrative arrangements of the Council or Commission have been made to implement these changes, and for what period of time. [13906]
§ Mr. BaldryArticle 101 of Council decision 91/482/EEC, on the association of the overseas countries and territories with the European Economic Community, provides for products originating in or processed in an OCT to be imported into the Community free of customs duties and charges having equivalent effect. No quantitiatve limits for rice are imposed by the decision. Imports have been rising over the last five years. In the marketing year 1 September 1995 to 31 August 1996 they were just under 240,000 tonnes—source: EU Commission—principally from the Netherlands Antilles but also from others including Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Article 109 and annex IV of the decision provide for the Commission to take emergency safeguard action to limit imports when these are causing serious disturbance to the EU market. As a temporary measure, the Commission has taken such action to limit imports to 42,650 tonnes of rice in the first four months of 1997. Of this, 4,594 tonnes has been reserved for Montserrat and 1,328 tonnes for the Turks and Caicos Islands.