NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
.In Confidence
Me Wilford
Mr Laird
Hong Kong Dept
Mr Sutherland
S D
2
McLaren THRO
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DRAFT
Type 1 +
Submission
Mr Gallagher
To:-
Mr Logan
Mr Godden
Private Secretary
From
ME Heath
Telephone No. & Ext.
Commodities
Department
IMPORT OF COTTON TEXTILES TRANSITION FROM QUOTAS
-
TO TARIFFS ON 1 JANUARY 1972
PROMBLEM
1.
Whether the Foreign and Commonwealth Office shou accept dispute the refusal by the Chancellor of the Excheq te
to inlude in the Finance Bill (as proposed by the
L
Minister for Trade) a proposal to relieve from duty,
for
fom the first three months of 1972, imports of costor
textiles from developing countries in the Commonwealth.
Preference Area,which are shipped under quota in 197.
but do not arrive here until 1972.
ARGUMENT AND BACKGROUND
2. As Mr Noble's letter makes clear, the objec
of tariff relief would be to avoid heavy bunching of
imports. Given the opposition of the Commonwealth.
developing countries to the imposition of the arluf,
agreed with
the FCO sifured this objective on all meie vomit,
but most particularly in respect of Hong Kong.
3.
7
The Hong Kong Government feel strongly about the decision to replace quotas by tariff, arguing that ar
we are successful in our application to join the
their exporters will before long find their market in
the United Kingdom controlled both by tariff and by
with Hong Kong
October and this February, wall
quotas. In talks s 2act
we made clear that we say no possibility of the chung.
to replace Emotas
the decision we were prepared to consider urgen- an
ksaid that we!.
sympathetically ways of excluding from the
CONFIDENTIAL.