0003230
G.F. 323
I
CONFIDENTIAL
- 7 -
Bed linen, cotton, not embroidered (656.905) (656.923)
30.
Answering Mr. Ho, Baron de Geer said that the countries now under restraint for bed linen were Yugoslavia, Poland, China and Hungary. Pakistan, Portugal, India, and Spain were not. Mr. Ho said that there appeared to be no necessity for the Export Authorisation scheme to continue because of the decline of Hong Kong's exports to Sweden in 1969; he also noted with regret that again comparable statistics for production and import were not available. Mr. Ho enquired whether there had been a change in consumer preference to nylon fitted bed-sheets as had occurred in some other European countries in 1969, since this could account for the decline both in production of cotton bed linen and imports from Hong Kong. Baron de Geer replied that as far as the Swedish side was aware, there did not appear to have any such change in the fashion trend for bed linen in Sweden. Mr. Ho concluded that based on the statistics presented by the Swedish delegation, it appeared that bed linen was not a sensitive item.
31.
The meeting adjourned at 5.15 p.m.
/Second Session
CONFIDENTIAL
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