INDUSTRY AND TRADE
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the United States Government undertook to accept for consump- tion in the United States the importation of all products so ex- ported up to those same levels and not to any lower level.
In addition, Hong Kong voluntarily and unilaterally undertook to space export shipments to the United States of these 30 categories during the period 1st October 1962 to 30th September 1963, i.e. the first year of the Long Term Arrangement. This understanding was outside the scope of the International Cotton Textile Arrangement and independent of the agreement on restraint levels referred to above.
The voluntary undertaking regarding the spacing of export ship- ments was promulgated to the trade on 5th November. No spacing arrangements_were applied to any of the 34 categories which had not been the subject of restraint requests during the period of the Short Term Arrangement. It was, however, agreed that regular information in regard to the actual and potential volume of exports of these 34 categories should be given to the American authorities.
On 5th September 1962, the Norwegian Government made a formal request for restraint on the Colony's exports of ready-made cotton textile products and asked that negotiations should start as soon as possible. The request purported to be under the Geneva Short Term Arrangement, which was then about to expire, but it failed to specify the categories of textiles involved, or the level of restraint desired, nor did it offer any evidence of market dis- ruption. The Director of Commerce and Industry discussed the request with Norwegian representatives at a meeting of the GATT Cotton Textiles Committee in Geneva and again in London during September. On the latter occasion the Norwegians announced that with effect from 20th September their country had imposed restrictions on the import of cotton shirts and nightwear from Hong Kong, and was seeking a cut-back far beyond the minimum levels appropriate to either the Short or the Long Term Arrangement.
It subsequently became clear that the request was based on the share of the Norwegian market which Hong Kong had achieved in these products, a concept which finds no place in the Arrange- ments. Her Majesty's Government lodged a protest on the Colony's