TNAG-0250-FCO40-286-Discussions-on-EEC-negotiations-between-officials-of-Hong-Ko-1970 — Page 128

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CONFIDENTIAL

5.

(f) a unilateral declaration by the HG at the time

of signature of the Accession Instrument, following the precedents of certain unilateral declarations made by individual member countries of the existing community in 1957, which would place on record Britain's continuing responsibilities for her dependent territories, including Hong Kong; (g) preferential access on a limited scale to the UK

market for certain new products for a short period; (h) a bilateral trade agreement between Hong Kong

and the enlarged Community.

Hong Kong officials explained that experience in general had shown that rights of access were of greater importance

to her then tariff levels. The British side explained that () in paragraph 4 above had been rejected by the Six in the last negotiations; and they were likely to refuse it again. They were also likely to reject (b); as regards (f)

this was a new idea which the British delegation had not yet considered. As regards (g) Hong Kong's main interest seemed to lie in continued preferential access for new products so

as to assist the establishment of new industries. After a

short period, when an industry had been established, preference could presumably be withdrawn.

6.

It was generally thought that any request for special treatment for Hong Kong by the enlarged Community was likely to encourage the Six to seek protection from Hong Kong competition in various ways, e.g. by the adoption of a stringent market disruption clause and/or severe origin criteria. This might not be the case if Hong Kong were included in general arrangements,

7.

During the second round of talks the British delegation made it clear that they saw difficulty in making out a case to the Six for limited prefcrential access to the enlarged Community for Hong Kong's new products. Hr. Cowperthwaite, on behalf of the Hong Tong delegation, summed up both rounds of talks by saying: "The Hong Kong Government have decided that in general they should not ask Britain to make any specific

/demands

CONFIDENTIAL