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3.
declarations made by individual Member Governments
of the existing Community in 1957, which would place
on record Britain's continuing responsibilities for
her Dependent Territories, including Hong Kong. (g) Preferential access on a limited scale to the U.K.
market for certain new products for a short period. (h) A bilateral trade agreement between Hong Kong and
the enlarged Community.
In general Hong Kong's experience is that rights of access
are of greater importance to her than tariff levels. The British Delegation explained that (a) had been rejected by the Six in the last negotiations; and they were likely to refuse
it now.
They were also likely to reject (b). As regards (f), this was a new idea which the British Delegation had not yet considered. As regards (g), Hong Kong's main interest seemed
to lie in continued preferential access for new products, so as
to assist the establishment of new industries.
period, when an industry had been established, preference could
presumably be withdrawn.
After a short
4. It was generally thought that any request for special treatment for Hong Kong by the enlarged Community was likely to encourage the Six to seek protection from Hong Kong competition in various ways, e.g. by the adoption of a stringent market disruption clause and/or severe origin criteria. This might not be the case if Hong Kong were included in general arrangements. 5. It appeared that the effect of U.K. entry into the Community on Hong Kong's rights under the G.A.T.T. should be
studied further. At present Hong Kong has no G.A.T.T. relationship with Britain but does have such relationships with the Six. The preliminary British view was that these rolationships would be unaffected; but a definitivo opinion would be given later and would cover the following questions.
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