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2.
3.
Preference.
In textiles, wool is duty-free, but man-made
fibres, silk and (since 1 January 1972) cotton are all
dutiable at about 85% of the mfn rate. Hong Kong is
also a beneficiary under the UK's generalised preference
scheme, but this excludes most textiles.
4.
In the accession negotiations the Community ruled out
associate status for Hong Kong. She will, of course,
benefit from the transitional arrangements negotiated
by the UK: this will help her to adjust to the new
situation. But it is mainly to the GPS that Hong Kong
must look to mitigate the consequences of our entry.
We will be aligning to the enlarged EEC GPS scheme on
1 January 1974. Although it is true that Hong Kong will
have to share the benefits of this scheme in our market
with other developing countries it is unlikely that dong
Kong would have secured inclusion in the existing 300
scheme, and thus access on a preferential basis to hone
important markets which she had not previously enjoyed,
had it not been for our impending entry into the EEC.
The loss of Commonwealth preference margins in the UK arrkeb
as a result of our accession to the EEC is partly
academic. Our own GPS scheme which covers, apart from
textiles, the vast majority of Hong Kong's exports to
our market, in any event involved loss of Commonwealth
preference margins for Hong Kong.
The inclusion of Hong Kong in the EEC scheme was also
held to be of great importance by the Colony because of
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