}
10
The truth is that the UK, and the Community, being such big exporters of textiles and clothing, are simply not in a position to take Article XIX action with its consequences of retaliation against their big export trade.
#
The UK's Objectives in Re-negotiating the FA
that is
to protect our producers against cumulative disruption individually small increases in imports from a large number of sources ... we are now proposing a new safeguard measure which will allow the introduction of a single quota to deal with all disruptive or potentially disruptive imports of a sensitive product that is, one where import penetration rates are very high."
25.
If the UK is really worried about high import penetration rates, this proposal (generally referred to as "globalisation") is unlikely to solve its problems because the single global quota will be imposed only on developing countries although other countries also contribute significantly to the import penetration.
Even among developing countries the Community will not allow the quota to be applied to those countries which are signatories to the Lome Convention. Needless to say, it will also not be applied to other Member States or to the EFTA countries or to other C associates, with whom the Community has free-trade agreements. It is also inconceivable that the Community will include the USA in the global quota. This means that probably more than half of UK imports by value will remain unrestricted.
26.
The UK, and the Community if it finally accepts the concept of globalisation, will no doubt argue that these are high-cost imports and are therefore by definition not disruptive. But the truth is very often that those "high-cost" imports are precisely the type of products which are directly competitive with domestic products and therefore likely to be more "disruptive" than low-cost imports.
27.
So the "single quota" would in any casc not be able to "deal with all disruptive or potentially disruptive imports".
機密