RESTRICTED
TN(T) (7 4 15 MAY 1978
783
GATT MULTILATERAL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS (MTN'S)
CONSULTATION WITH INDUSTRY
1
On several occasions in the last year or so CRE1 has circulated
under a TNT paper an unclassified note which Departments were invited,
if they wished, to send to their industry contacts. Attached is a
similar note on the current state of play in the MTNs which may
similarly be passed on to industry associations as appropriate.
2
Since the last such note was circulated (under TN(T) (78) 2 on
21 February) there have been extensive consultations with sponsoring
divisions and industry over the assessment of the US and Japanese
offers and over the hard-fought Community "hard-core" list. The
following notes are intended to amplify the inevitably abbreviated
description of the present situation given in the attachment.
INDUSTRIAL TARIFFS: EEC WITHDRAWALS
3
Departments will be aware that the Community finalised its "hard-
core" list of withdrawals from its initial industrial tariff offer on
21 April. This included most products of interest to the UK (except
passenger motor vehicles where we had received no support from other
member states or the Commission). Copies of the withdrawals list
have been circulated to the sponsoring divisions concerned. They should
not be passed on to trade associations at this stage both because
the lists are confidential and because there is always the possibility
of further modifications at a later stage.
4
The United Kingdom and France have also tabled proposals for
products which should be included in the Community's "conditional"
list of withdrawals. The Commission has been invited to consider
these proposals together with their own list of products which failed
to make the hard-core list, with a view to producing further