TNAG-0386-FCO40-432-Exports-of-non-cotton-textiles-from-Hong-Kong-to-the-EEC-1973 — Page 191

increased in a measure which threatens damage to the market of the Community, considering therefore that negotiations should be opened as a matter of urgency with Hong Kong in order to reach an agreement on trade in the products in question decides

SINGLE ARTICLE

The Commission is authorised to open negotiations with Hong Kong with a view to the conclusion of an agreement on the subject of artificial, synthetic and woollen textiles according to the directives set out in the annex.

The representatives of the candidate countries are associated as observers with the work of the special Committee of article 113 of the Treaty which assists the Commission in the combat of the negotiations.

CONDIT

DIRECTIVES FOR THE NEGOTIATIONS

1 Agreement for voluntary restraint operative until 31 December 1976 (duration of the agreement recently concluded between Hong Kong and the United Kingdom).

2 Possibility of revising the agreement at the end of 1973 to adapt it to the international situation concerning trade in textiles of all fibres.

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Voluntary restraints limited to sensitive products and calculated on the basis of the average imports of the three most recent past years ie 1969, 1970, 1971.

4 Management of the ceilings on the dual control system.

5 Arrangements for flexibility identical to those contained in the agreements for voluntary restraint on cotton textiles.

6 Liberalisation of other products under the proviso of acceptance by Hong Kong of a safeguard clause of the type envisaged in regulation 1025 of the Council.

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