WE SAW A DANGER THAT THE SETTING OF TOO LOW A LEVEL FOR IMPORTS
COULD LEAD TO THE NEED TO DESTROY SOME COMMUNITY PRODUCTION. DID THE
COMMISSION HAVE ANY DATA ON THIS? RUTTEN (PRESIDENCY) ADDED THAT TOO
LOW A THRESHOLD FOR IMPORTS INTO THE COMMUNITY COULD AFFECT
COMMUNITY EXPORTS, AND ASKED WHETHER THE PROPOSAL WAS COMPATIBLE
WITH THE TRADING OBLIGATIONS OF THE COMMUNITY. WHY HAD THE
COMMISSION CHOSEN THIS ROUTE RATHER THAN USING THE SAME REGIME AS
APPLIED TO INTRACOMMUNITY TRADE? UNGERER (FRG) NOTED THAT THE
COMMUNITY WOULD BE CULPABLE UNDER THE GATT IF WE SET LIMITS FOR
IMPORTS MORE STRINGENT THAN THOSE USED FOR INTERNAL TRADE. HE ALSO
QUERIED THE PROPOSED YEAR'S DURATION.
6. THE COMMUNITY (BRESELER AND GREY) GAVE THE FOLLOWING ANSWERS
TO THESE AND VARIOUS OTHER QUESTIONS RAISED:
(4) THE PROPOSED LEGAL BASE WAS ARTICLE 113 BECAUSE, AS WITH
REGULATION 1388/66, THIS WAS THE APPROPRIATE BASIS FOR WHAT THE
COMMISSION VIEWED AS A FOREIGN TRADE MEASURE
(B) MEMBER STATES HAD THE RIGHT, UNDER ARTICLE 2 OF THE PROPOSAL TO
STOP CONTAMINATED CONSIGNMENTS BEFORE THE ADDITIONAL SANCTIONS
ENVISAGED IN ARTICLE 5 WERE AGREED UPON.
(C) 30TH THE PROPOSED COMMON LEVELS AND THE ONE YEAR DURATION WERE
SET WITH AN EYE TO PRUDENCE. CERTAIN MEMBER STATES HAD BEEN MORE
SEVERELY AFFECTED BY THE ACCIDENT THAN OTHERS, AND THEREFORE HAD TO
BE MORE CAUTIOUS IN THE LEVELS THEY NOW SET. RADIATION COULD TURN UP
IN ALL SORTS OF FOOD (EG MILK IN CHOCOLATE) AND AT ANY TIME. THE 500
BQ/KG LEVEL WAS NOT DISSIMILAR TO THE 370 BQ/KG SET BY THE US AND
WAS, IN THE COMMISSIONS JUDGEMENT, THE BEST LEVEL TO SET FOR THE
WHOLE COMMUNITY (THEY EMPHASISED IN THIS CONTEXT THE WIDE VARIETY OF
LEVELS CHOSEN BY OTHER STATES FROM 2000 BQ/KG RECOMMENDED BY THE WHO
TO 300 BQ/KG IN SWEDEN AND 10 BQ/KG FOR BABY FOOD IN AUSTRIA), THE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LEVEL FOR MILK AND BABY FOOD AND FOR OTHER
PRODUCTS WAS OF COURSE DICTATED BY THE HIGH SENSITIVITY OF BABIES
AND THE HIGH PROPORTION OF MILK IN THEIR DIETS.
(D) THE LEVELS WERE A COMBINED TOTAL FOR CAESIUM 134 AND CAESTUM 137
(E) COMPATIBILITY OF THE PROPOSED REGULATIONS WITH THE GATT MIGHT
WELL DEPEND UPON THE EXISTENCE OF DEROGATION IN THE LATTER FOR
PUBLIC HEALTH MEASURES. THE COMMISSION WILL CHECK THIS POINT AND
REPORT BACK
(F) FLEXIBILITY, FOR THOSE MEMBER STATES WHICH HAD DOUBTS ABOUT ANY
PARTICULAR FEATURES OF THE PROPOSED REGIME, WAS BUILT IN THROUGH
ARTICLE 6 (WHICH ALLOWED FOR AMENDMENT BY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES)
(G) THE COMMISSION HAD RECOMMENDED THIS APPROACH RATHER THAN THAT
USED FOR INTRA COMMUNITY TRADE BECAUSE THE LATTER WOULD CONFRONT
EXPORTERS WITH 12 DIFFERENT SETS OF NATIONAL LEVELS. IT WAS
IMPORTANT ON THIS MATTER THAT THE COMMUNITY ACT AS A COMMUNITY AND
MAINTAIN A COMMON EXTERNAL FRONT.
(H) VERY FEW COMMUNITY PRODUCTS DO NOT MEET THE LEVELS PROPOSED IE
(PERHAPS) A FEW CHEESES OF CERTAIN DATES AND CERTAIN TYPES OF
BAVARIAN GAME. THESE WERE MOST EXCEPTIONAL CATEGORIES, VERY MINOR IN
TERMS OF INTRA COMMUNITY TRADE.
(1) THERE WAS NO AGREEMENT AMONG EXPERTS ON WHEN CAESTUM LEVELS WERE LIKELY TO PEAK, BUT THERE WAS A GENERAL FEELING THAT THIS WAS
UNLIKELY TO BE A SERIOUS PROBLEM.
Confidential
/ (3)