CONFIDENTIAL
(CONTINUE TYPING HERE)
DRAFT BRIEF
EEC COUNCIL OF MINISTERS MEETING: 12/13 NOVEMBER
PROVISIONAL AGENDA ITEM: GENERALISED SCHEME OF
PREFERENCES
IMPRODUCTION
1. The aim is to try to reach agreement on the
Community's Generalised Scheme of Preferences for
1975 at this Council meeting. There are strong
practical arguments for an early settlement,
though it is likely that some items will be
remitted for further study and may have to return
at a later stage to the Council. The Council
will have before it a report of the work done
at official level which should indicate that a
fair measure of agreement has already been
reached. However, a number of major issues still
have to be resolved. These include on the
agricultural side, tobacco and the inclusion of
some vegetable oils of interest to ACP countries;
on the industrial side, the reduction of the
sensitive list and the proposals for dealing with
the supercompetitive countries and the question
.of discrimination against Hong Kong. Many of
these issues involve United Kingdom requests for
improvements on the original Commission proposals
that other member states have not yet accepted.
Cont'd/.....
Continuation Sheet No.
File No.
•