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HONG KONG HAD COME TO MEET THE COMMUNITY ROUGHLY 4/5TH OF THE
WAY, AND HALF-WAY ON THEIR DEMAND FOR A TRANSITIONAL PERIOD. IN RETURN THE COMMUNITY, THE COMMISSION THOUGHT, WOULD HAVE
TO MEET HONG KONG SOME TWO-THIRDS OF THE WAY ON THEIR DRAFT
AGREEMENT AND ON EXPORT AUTHORISATION. BECK CONSIDERED THAT IF
THE HONG KONG DELEGATION COULD NOT OBTAIN REOUGHLY MORE THAN HALF
OF THE SUBSTANCE OF THEIR DRAFT AGREEMENT THEY WOULD CONCLUDE
THAT THEY COULD DO NO WORSE UNDER AUTONOMOUS MEASURES AND WOULD
THEREFORE NOT SIGN AN AGREEMENT.
3. THE COMMISSION THOUGHT IT BEST TO ATTEMPT TO IRON OUT THE
REMAINING DIFFICULTIES OVER FIGURES IN PRIVATE DISCUSSIONS WITH THE DELEGATIONS OF MEMBER STATES RATHER THAN IN THE ARTICLE 113
COMMITTEE WHICH WOULD TAKE TOO LONG. THEY HOPED TO SORT OUT THE
PROBLEMS OF FIGURES AND OF CATEGORISATION BY THE WEEKEND. THEY
WERE STARTING THESE CONSULTATIONS WITH THE UNITED KINGDOM AS
WE WERE OBVIOUSLY THE LARGEST IMPORTERS OF HONG KONG TEXTILE
PRODUCTS: IF THE COMMISSION COULD DEMONSTRATE TO OTHER MEMBER
STATES THAT WE HAD SHOWN UNDERSTANDING AND FLEXIBILITY IN ORDER
TO PROMOTE AN AGREEMENT WITH HONG KONG, THE OTHERS WOULD FIND IT DIFFICULT TO REFUSE LIKE GESTURES. (DETAILS OF THE FIGURES SUGGESTED
AND AGREED, AND OF THE POINTS ON WHICH WE HAD, FOR THE MOMENT, TO RESERVE OUR POSITION, HAVE BEEN REPORTED BY TELEPHONE TO CT DIVISION). THE PRINCIPAL POINT TO EMERGE WAS THAT MEMBER
STATES WERE NOT BEING ASKED TO MAKE ANY FURTHER CONCESSIONS IN
GROUP 1. THE COMMISSION HAVE SUCCEEDED IN OBTAINING HONG KONG’S
PRIVATE AGREEMENT TO THE FIGURES OFFERED IN THIS GROUP. FOR COTTON YARN, SYNTHETIC CLOTH, T-SHIRTS, PULLOVERS AND BLOUSES THE AGREEMENT CAN BE PRESENTED AS ONE HAVING BEEN FREELY REACHED
GROVATE AGREEMENT TO THE FIGURES OFFERED IN THIS GROUP.
(THE HONG KONG DELEGATION APPEAR TO THINK THAT THEY CAN DISGUISE THE EXTENT OF THE CUTBACKS ON THESE PRODUCTS). ON COTTON YARN, TROUSER TROUSERS AND SHIRTS THE AGREEMENT WILL HAVE TO BE PRESENTED AS
HAVING BEEN IMPOSED BY THE COMMUNITY.
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4. TWO PROBLEMS EMERGED IN THE BRIEF DISCUSSION WE HAD ABOUT
THE FORM AND TEXT OF THE AGREEMENT. FIRSTLY, TO THE EXTENT
THAT THE COMMUNITY ACCEPTED AN AGREEMENT ALONG THE LINES OF THAT
DRAFTED BY HONG KONG, SOME MEANS WOULD HAVE TO BE FOUND FOR LEAVING
INTACT THE COMMUNITY'S MECHANISM FOR WITHDRAWING PRODUCTS FROM
THE BASKET WHEN THE TRIGGER POINTS ARE REACHED. IN PRACTICE
THIS MIGHT MEAN THAT THE AGREEMENT WITH HONG KONG CONTAINED
NOTHING MORE THAN A V.S. CLAUSE BUT THAT OUR MECHANISMS EXISTED
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