TNAG-0046-FCO40-82-Britain-s-entry-into-EEC-effect-on-trade-with-Hong-Kong-1967 — Page 35

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3. The Report contains only one sentence referring

directly to Hong Kong. In the section on 'The Wider Community and the Third Countries' it is briefly stated

that 'a special problem arises with respect to imports

from Hong Kong' The context is no real help in detect-

ing just what the Commission are getting at, but it would

be prudent to assume that they mean a problem for the

Community' and not 'a problem for Hong Kong'.

4. The Report recommends that a strict parallelism must

be observed in the progress by new members towards indust-

rial free trade and the agricultural common market and goes on to say that 'the best way of maintaining a certain degree of unity of the internal market in the wider

Community would be for the starting date, the duration and

rhythm of development of the transitional period to be the

same for all the acceding countries and for as few systems

It does not, as possible to be exceptions to this'.

therefore, look as if the Commission will be favourably

disposed towards the revival of the concept of 'soft

decalage'

5. The section on the abolition of impediments to intra-

Community trade contains the following passages:-

'The elimination of impediments to trade, even

when done progressively, could lead to certain

difficulties in 'sensitive sectors' which were

dealt with separately under the Kennedy

negotiations

•

The very wide divergences

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