TNAG-0044-FCO40-80-Exports-to-the-Benelux-countries-aide-memoires-1967 — Page 136

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G.F. 323

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Benelux side was naturally at liberty to suggest any amendments of form or content they might wish. He suggested, and Mr. Verhagen agreed, that a drafting committee should convene at 3.00 p.m. to consider the drafts in detail.

76.

E

Turning finally to implementation and procedure, Mr. Miller said that he imagined they would follow the same procedure as that adopted previously for shirts. It was agreed that the finally agreed draft of the undertaking which would be ad referendum the Governments concerned would be formally received by Mr. Verhagen. Both sides would then notify each other through the Department's Brussels Office when the terms of the undertaking had been approved. The Director of Commerce and Industry would then write the agreed letter with the undertaking to the Consuls- General, who would be instructed to reply acknowledging receipt and taking note of the contents. The Benelux Governments would subsequently inform the G..T.T. Secretariat that they had discontinued the temporary licensing restrictions on imports of the products in question from Hong Kong and the Consuls-General would also notify the Director of this fact. Hong Kong would in turn communicate the terms of the undertaking to the G.A.T.T. Secretariat for the information of the Cotton Textiles Committee. Mr. Verhagen advised formally that he wished to discuss, as a separate issue, the question of imports into the Benelux of umbrellas from Hong Kong. Mr. Miller suggested that a special meeting should be held at 3.00 p.m. on 11th July for this purpose. Mr. Verhagen agreed to this proposal.

Sixth Working Session : 3.00 p.m.. Monday.

10th July, 1967

77.

The two sides met first as a drafting committee.

78.

Mr. Verhagen thanked Mr. Miller for producing drafts of the covering letter and Memorandum. He confirmed that the Benelux authorities would welcome a covering letter to the Memorandum addressed to the Consuls-General of Belgium and the Netherlands. The formal acknowledgement of receipt of these documents could be regarded as the agreement of the Benelux Governments to the terms of the undertaking.

79.

Mr. Verharen stated that he had had insufficient time to study the drafts closely and in particular would like to reserve comments on Annexes A and B to the Memorandum until à later point in the discussions. In the meantime he was happy to consider the wording of the drafts in detail.

80.

The covering letter was then agreed with minor amendments. The draft Memorandum (originally styled Memorandum of Undertaking) was discussed at length and amendments introduced by both sides.

81.

Before the meeting ended, fresh drafts, as provisionally agreed, of both the letter and the Memorandum were prepared and handed to the Benelux side for further study.

82.

At the conclusion of the first drafting committee session, Mr. Miller said that, with Mr. Verhagen's consent, he would like to revert to plenary session and nake a formal statement on the outstanding point of flexibility. He regretted the need he had felt in the previous session to adopt an apparently inflexible

/attitude.

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