TNAG-0303-FCO40-339-Effects-of-tariffs-on-imports-of-cotton-textiles-to-UK-from--1971 — Page 68

be restrained, but we would warn suppliers that if imports

seriously threatened to rise, we would introduce quotas at once.

Under this course we would avoid a breach of our international

undertakings because we would not act except where and when the

market showed we had a case for doing so (and we should in the

mean time have warned our trading partners of our intentions

and of the probability that there would be no time to go through

the consultation procedures of the Long Term Agreement).

4.

Import monitoring could be exercised by a system of

consignment licences for cotton textiles from the developing

countries, with a limited period of validity (say, two months)

for each licence. Running tables could be kept of the quantities

licensed of particular categories of cotton textiles and action

taken, if necessary, to restrict types which seemed likely to

rise to disruptive levels. Under Article 3 of the Long Term

Arrangement, it would be necessary to hold consultations with

the countries supplying the goods concerned; but in critical

circumstances it would be permissible to impose import

restrictions while the consultations took place.

5. Import monitoring of this kind could be represented.

(particularly in Parliament) as a development of the disruption

procedure which forms part of the Government's current tariff

policy. The DTI might argue that restrictions on imports could

not be introduced sufficiently quickly in a disruptive situation

to alleviate the situation very significantly; there is, however,

no evidence that they have examined this type of mechanism in

detail with, eg, the Customs, in order to ensure that the

necessary statistics are available quickly.

Commodities Department

29 November 1971

CONFIDENTIAL