MEMORANDUM
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1.
Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom has
recently stated in the Council of Ministers of the European
Economic Community its intention to press for a substantial
improvement in the position of Hong Kong in the Community's
Generalised Scheme of Preferences.
2.
When Hong Kong was included in the scheme that was
introduced on 1 July 1971, textiles and footwear from
Hong Kong were specifically excluded from the benefits of
the scheme.
3.
Since that time exports of Hong Kong textiles and
footwear to the EEC have fallen markedly and the trend
continues downwards.
4
The discrimination has caused buyers increasingly
to divert their orders away from Hong Kong to suppliers
in countries. which are beneficiaries under the Scheme.
5.
Although the tariff quota and butoir systems limit
the extent to which certain imports from each beneficiary
can be admitted free of duty, nonetheless when orders are
placed in a beneficiary country there exists for the
importer the possibility that the goods will be admitted
free of duty.
./When orders