TNAG-0172-FCO40-208-United-Kingdom-Productivity-and-Efficiency-Study-effect-on-H-1969 — Page 187

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6. The Irish Republic has also agreed to restrict exports to the United Kingdom of (i) yarn, and (ii) goods manufactured in the Irish Republic from yarn or cloth imported from low-cost countries.

7. Portugal secretly agreed to restrict exports to the United Kingdom in the spring of 1967. The agreement was denounced last December, following the introduction of the Import Deposit Scheme, but we understand that the trade is still under control and is currently within the ceilings formerly agreed.

Import duties on cotton textiles

8. Broadly speaking, the duties on textiles entirely of cotton are:-

Commonwealth, Irish Republic and E.F.T.A.

M.f.n. rate

Cotton yarn

7글%

Cotton cloth, woven

and knitted

171%

Cotton garments

various rates,

around 20%

Nil

Nil

Nil

A higher rate of duty is applicable to goods containing 5 per cent or more of silk or man-made fibre; and in this case imports from the Commonwealth (but not from E.F.T.A. or the Irish Republic) are subject to about 85 per cent of the full rate. This means that goods imported from the Commonwealth which contain 50 per cent or more of cotton and 5 per cent or more of man-made fibre or silk are subject to a tariff as well as to the quota. The trade, if it exists, is insignificant. Most blends contain at least 50 per cent of m.m.f. and of course it is only too easy to increase the minimum from 50 to, say, 55 per cent to escape the control. And Commonwealth suppliers have no incentive to use the quota to sell dutiable material. The success of Pakistan in capturing a large share of the global quota has increased the Commonwealth share of imports from the low-cost countries (i.e. excluding Portugal and Japan) to 95 per cent of the total.

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