TNAG-0132-FCO40-168-Tariff-preferences-for-developing-countries-1969 — Page 150

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CONFIDENTIAL

UNITED KINGDOM DEL EGATION TO THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES.

52 avenue des Arts,

Bruxelles, 4.

19 December, 1968.

HONG

KONG

UNCTAD

Preferences

I have now had a word with Tran, who works in the Commission's Directorate-General for External Affairs under di Martino, about recent discussion of the Commission's proposals on UNCTAD preferences by the relevant Council Working Group. The last meeting of this group before the holiday took place on 18 December..

2.

Tran began by sxplaining that the Commission proposals (of which by the way, he is convinced you have a copy) were based on four general hypotheses :-

1) that the lists of manufactured products now put forward by the Commission were no more than "working hypotheses" and did not represent the political choice of the Commission which would have to be taken later and that this list was not a draft exceptions list but was a list of sen- sitive products with certain indications as to the main under-developed producers and exporters to the Community of them;

ii) that for all products not listed as sensitive the UNCTAD prefer- ence should be a reduction to a nil tariff;

iii) that for the sensitive products listed in the Commission's prop- osals there were two broad ranges of possibility

(a) to offer a limited depth preference

프

of (b) to institute specific safeguard procedures for individual

products;

iv) that there should be a general safeguard mechanism covering all products, sensitive and non-sensitive.

He added that the paper had not taken up a position on many technical points including whether or not the preferences should be implemented in one stage of in a series of graduated steps. And he confirmed, of course that the Commission had suggested the exclusion of Hong Kong, emphasis- ing again that this was only a "working hypothesis".

3. Turning then to the meeting on 18 December, Tran said that there had been some discussion of the Hong Kong point. The French had merely said thatthey were happy to work on the basis of the Commission's "working hypothesis" for the exclusion of Hong Kong but they had not said that, at the political level, they would insist on this. The Belgians on the other hand, had not only agreed that the Commission's "working hypothesis on Hong Kong should be used, but said that they were determined that it should form part of the eventual-Community position. The Dutch and

R. Goldsmith, Esq.

BOARD OF TRADE.

/Italians

CONFIDENTIAL

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