CONSTRAINTS ON OUR FREEDOM TO RESTRICT IMPORTS OF TEXTILES ARISING FROM
INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
11.
Our freedom to restrict textile imports is constrained by
obligations arising from our membership of the GATT (General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade), the LTA (Long Term Arrangement on Cotton Textiles)
EFTA (European Free Trade Association), and AIFTA (Anglo Irish Free
Trade Area).
12. Under the GATT, increases in bound duties or the imposition of
quantitative restrictions against imports from other contracting
parties are allowed only if increased imports are causing or
threatening serious injury to domestic producers. The action taken
must be non-discriminatory (ie imposed against all other contracting
parties) and any GATT member whose trade is affected is entitled to
compensation. Subject to these conditions, this method of action could
be used to restrict either cotton or non-cotton textile imports, but
in practice these provisions of the GATT have hardly even been used by
anyone.
13. The LTA applies only to cotton textiles and allows quantitative
restrictions to be imposed discriminatorily against other contracting
parties (although it is accepted that they should be imposed only
against the low cost suppliers any the contracting parties) in conditions
of market disruption. The LTA lays down procedures for negotiating
restraint levels and, in the event of ailure to reach agreement, lays
down précise rules for calculating the levels at which quantitative
restrictions may be imposed. These in effect provide that the annual
restraint levels shall not be lower than the level of imports in the
first twelve months of the fifteen month period preceding the decision
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