TNAG-0345-FCO40-381-UK-and-Hong-Kong-talks-on-cotton-textiles-1972 — Page 191

داری

C P Haddon-Cavo esq.

.contà.

b.

Compensation for hardship cases in the form of uncategorised yardage to accommodate,

1. orders booked by non-quota holders;

11. orders booked by quota holders in excess

of quota rights.

An 'up-swing' facility and swing between specific categories in Group IV (to provide an opportunity of trading-up in order to off-set the reduced competitiveness of fabrics).

You also asked for some undertaking that Hong Kong would not suffer further as a result of duty-free competition from EPTA countries.

I agreed that the next round of talks should consider all the foregoing in more detail, whilst making it clear that all those requests would raise very great difficulties for us.

When discussing the ground to be covered at the talko in January, you argued that the new Commonwealth tariff should be decalaged because commercial decisions haû been entered into on the basis that there would be a tariff but no quotas. I explained that there were both policy and legislative reasons why we could not entertain this, just as we could not contemplate deferring the introduction of the tariff, the point here being that our industry had based its investment and other commercial decisions on the assumption that tariff protection would be available from 1 January 1972.

P W RIDLEY