A
CONFIDENTIAL
MWE
6951.JVP 9 L
6/31
יאר.
United Kingdon Delegation to the European Communities,
52 avenue des Arts,
BRUSSELS 4
14 January, 1969
Common commercial policy.
I went to see Ernst, the director in the Commission who deals with common commercial policy questions, on 13 January to find out what follow-up action we could expect from the Commission after the adoption by the Council of three regulations providing instruments for a cormon commercial policy (UKDel Saving tel. No. 122 refers).
2.
Ernst began by agreeing that the three regulations approved by the Council before Christmas were not, of course, in themselves a commercial policy; they merely provided a framework for defining one. But he regarded their approval as most important. Hitherto the member states had always justified their refusal to make specific moves towards a common commercial policy on the grounds that there were no instruments to administer one; and when the Commission had asked for the instruments they had been told that they did not need them for there was no common commercial policy. Now, at least, they had the instruments and it should be possible to make more progress with their policy proposals. particularly so in view of the very clear provisions of the Treaty on the operation of a common commercial policy after the end of the transitional period i,e. within less than one year from now.
This was
Common liberalisation lists and quantitative restrictions.
3.
Ernst went on to say that the Commission would now make a major effort to develop the common liberalisation list to cover that portion of the tariff which was at present omitted and, where trade could not be liberalised, to submit it to the regulations for Community surveillance or quantitative restrictions. The Commission had already, someo time ago, sent to the member states a list of 250 tariff positions which they wished to have treated on a Community basis. In the Commission view the vast majority could be put on the liberalisation list; some 40 to 50 would probably have to stay under quantitative restriction (but over 30 of these would be textile positions), They hoped that they could use the provisions of the regulation establishing a Community system of surveillance to covą, many items not at present liberalised by the member states/allowing sensitive products to be moved towards liberalisation without going the whole way in one step. At the moment the Commission are debating whether to put forward specific proposals on groups of products or whether to put forward all their proposals in one package; but they would certainly put proposals to the Council before the end of the transitional period.
4.
thus
He then added that the two main problems in this field were Japan and Hong Kong. On Japan, by the end of 1969
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