that this position will change. At present, a wide range of
GATT matters remain outside the community ambit, although in
various respects this position is likely to change in the future.
For example, different national regimes of quantitative restrictions
are maintained by the individual member states. When these are
under consideration in GATT, national spokesmen reply to criticisms
of them. However, when the Common Commercial Policy is fully
enforced, and there is a common liberalisation list and a common
list of restrictions, it would seem very probable that a commission
spokesman will speak for the EEC as a bloc even though the formal
GATT responsibility remains with the member states as individual
contracting parties. The EEC spokesman at GATT meetings is usually
flanked by representatives of the member states.
6. Should Britain join EEC, the UK Delegation would form one of
the team of member states represented by an EEC spokesman. This
would pose obvious difficulties for representation of the special
circumstances of Hong Kong or for securing her GATT rights,
particularly vis-a-vis the EEC or member states.
This
7. Hong Kong is concerned that should Britain join EEC, Hong Kong
will lose her GATT rights vis-a-vis the enlarged community.
derives from the proviso in Article XXIV quoted above which is to
the effect that no GATT rights or obligations are created between a
metropolitan Customs territory and its dependencies. Hong Kong
fears that where British practices have been harmonised with those
of EEC member states, she will lose any GATT rights in respect of
these practices. There is no reassuran
sampster of occasum
That
we have arrived Whey Hory
can give hung Kong
on this matter other than to say (as we here said before that we
will do our best, when inside the community, to safeguard the
interests
4.