TNAG-0384-FCO40-430-Trade-relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-the-EEC-1973 — Page 97

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contrary to the Summit Communiques call for

improvements to the Community's GSP. In any event,

in 1971 FCO Ministers (including Mr Royle) agreed

that we should not adopt this course.

OPTION 3

14 In our negotiations on alignment with the

Community so far we have argued that the whole

question of textiles should be taken out of the GSP

context and considered instead in the wider context

of Community textile policy together with such

issues as greater liberalisation, larger quotas for

those member countries not currently as generous as

we are and free circulation. A natural result of

this could be the removal of textiles from the

Community's GSP altogether. The proposal has

however received no support in Brussels so far.

Official Committee on Europe have decided to abandon

this policy early enough to permit us to make the

necessary arrangements to align on 1 January 1974.

It would also leave unsolved the question of foot-

wear.

OPTION 44

The

15. Very much the fall back position if all else

fails would be to seek to lower the butoirs ie the

limits within the duty-free quota available to any

one country. It would not avoid the major political

aim of removing discrimination against Hong Kong but

would lessen the advantages to her competitors. From

a liberal trading point of view there are objections

to proposing it.

CONCLUSION

16. Mr Royle will wish to consider the problem and,

with the Secretary of State, decide between the

opposing interests, in this context, of our

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