TNAG-0386-FCO40-432-Exports-of-non-cotton-textiles-from-Hong-Kong-to-the-EEC-1973 — Page 53

TONG KONG, WHILST THE REASON WHY THE PROBLEM IS CONTINUING,

LE. CONVERSION FACTORS, MAY BE OVERLOOKED.

2. IT SEEMS TO US UNFORTUNATE THAT DUTCH RECOGNITION OF THE

FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM AS BEING CONVERSION FACTORS WAS ALLOWED TO BE

BRUSHED ASIDE BY THE COMMISSION'S URGINGS THAT THE 'COMPLEX

CUESTION' SHOULD NOT BE REOPENED. THE SO-CALLED COMPLEXITY ARISE

WHOLLY AND SIMPLY BECAUSE, ESPECIALLY IN THE GARMENT SECTOR WHERE

WE ARE CONCENTRATED, THE METRIC TON 13 NOT AN APPROPRIATE UNIT FOR CONTROL PURPOSES, OR INDEED FOR ANY OTHER THAN STATISTICAL PURPOSES, AND BECAUSE THE COMMISSION IS UNABLE OR UNWILLING TO

RECOGNISE THIS,

3. THE AGREEMENT REACHED APPEARS TO US AN INADEQUATE TREATMENT OF

A SYMPTOM AND A DECISION TO IGNORE THE DISEASE, TAKING THE

SYMPTOM FIRST, WE WERE WRONGLY PERSUADED BY THE COMMISSION LAST OCTOBER THAT BY USING OUR THEN CONVERSION FACTORS WE HAD OVER-

SHIPPED CERTAIN LIMITS IN ACTUAL WEIGHT TERMS. AS A CONSEQUENCE VE CHANGED THE CONVERSION FACTORS, WITH THE RESULT THAT QUOTAS IN E4 WERE REDUCED BY SOME 50 PER CENT, HENCE THE CURRENT GERMAN

DIFFICULTIES AND, FOR THAT MATTER, THE DIFFICULTIES WE ARE

HAVING WITH OUR OWN INDUSTRY.

4. AS A RESULT OF DETAILED INVESTIGATIONS, INCLUDING SPECIFICALLY SEVERAL SHIPMENTS NOMINATED BY THE GERMAN AUTHORITIES, WE ARE NOW CONVINCED THAT THE FIGURES CLAIMED BY THE COMMISSION TO

REPRESENT 'ACTUAL' WEIGHT IN FACT BORE NO RELATION TO TRUE WEIGHT. SUCH WEIGHTS, TAKEN FROM COMMERCIAL PACKING LISTS, HAVE

BEEN FOUND TO BE CONSISTENTLY OVERSTATED, GENERALLY BY ABOUT 20 PER

CENT AND SOMETIMES BY AS MUCH AS 65 PER CENT. BY CONTRAST,

A RECENT SPECIAL EXAMINATION OF OUR CONVERTED WEIGHTS SHOWED THEM

TO BE WITHIN 10 PER CENT OF ACTUAL WEIGHTS ACROSS THE RANGE OF

COTTON TEXTILE EXPORTS TO GERMANY. WE THEREFORE CONSIDER THAT

DOUBTS HAVE BEEN CAST ON OUR INTEGRITY QUITE FALSELY AND

THAT ADEQUATE ATTENTION IS STILL NOT BEING PAID TO THE ROOT OF

THE PROBLEM.

5. IT WOULD THEREFORE BE MOST HELPFUL ALL ROUND IF YOU COULD

SEE YOUR WAY FORMALLY TO RAISE THE QUESTION OF UNITS OF CONTROL AT THE NEXT GROUP MEETING IN MAY BECAUSE, UNLESS THIS QUESTION CAN BE SATISFACTORILY SETTLED IN ADVANCE, WE CAN SEE

IT CREATING A SERIOUS IMPEDIMENT TO THE SMOOTH CONCLUSION OF ANY

FUTURE AGREEMENT ON TEXTILES BETWEEN HONG KONG AND THE ENLARGED

COMMUNITY.

6. IT MAY BE OF INTEREST TO RECORD THAT WE UNDERSTAND THAT THE