TNAG-0462-FCO40-527-Entitlement-of-Hong-Kong-to-EEC-Generalised-Scheme-of-Prefer-1974 — Page 80

PP BTC HONG KONG

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CONFIDENTIAL

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY No. 51

- 6 MAR 1974

HKK 6/598/1

TO PRIORITY BTC HONG KONG TEL NO CREDA 013 OF 26 FEBRUARY.

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TRED

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PERSONAL FOR D H JORDAN, DIRECTOR OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY FROM LAM

D.T.I.

COMMISSION PROPOSALS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF GSP.

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RIT

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FOLLOWING IS AN OUTLINE OF WHAT WE EXPECT TRAN TO PROPOSE IN

HIS VISITS TO EUROPEAN CAPITALS.

(A) REDUCING NUMBER OF PRODUCTS ON SENSITIVE AND SEMI-SENSITIVE

LISTS.

(B) ITEMS REMAINING ON SENSITIVE LIST TO GET AS BIG AN INCREASE IN CEILINGS (SENSITIVE ITEMS) OR INDICATIVE CEILINGS (SEMI – SENSITIVE) AS POSSIBLE.

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INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPING

(C) BUTOIRS FOR HIGHLY COMPETITIVE COUNTRIES TO BE REDUCED BY 10% IN THE SCHEME FOR 1975. (IF AN INDIVIDUAL BENEFICIARY HAD SUFFERED THE BUTOIR ON AN INDIVIDUAL PRODUCT IN EITHER ONE OR TWO PREVIOUS YEARS IT WOULD BE IN THE ''HIGHLY COMPETETIVE' CATEGORY).

TRAN BELIEVES THAT IF HE CAN ''SELL THE FOREGOING TO MEMBER STATES IT SHOULD BE POSSIBLE AT THE SAME TIME TO PERSUADE THEM THAT HONG KONG SHOULD NO LONGER BE EXCLUDED FROM BENEFIT OF PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT ON TEXTILES AND FOOTWEAR.

IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO HAVE YOUR EARLY INFORMAL VIEW ON THESE PROPOSALS. WE ARE WILLING TO EXPLORE THEM FURTHER BUT TO ME THEY SEEM BARELY ATTRACTIVE EITHER FOR HONG KONG OR ON GENERAL GROUNDS OF TRADE POLICY. I CANNOT SEE HOW TRAN EXPECTS TO RECONCILE (A) AND (B) WITH (C). THERE SEEMS TO ME A DISTINCT RISK THAT (C) WOULD PREVAIL.

D.T.I.

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