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1.
The problems which the new categorisation system would
give rise to extend beyond the negotiation of an agreement.
It is clear that no one understands it fully now. Maybe
they never will, but there is certainly no chance of it
being understood before 1 January 1978. This is just not a
problem for the governments involved. It is obviously a
problem too for the thousands of people engaged in the trade
who have, over the years,
become accustomed to the existing
system, not just the manufacturers and exporters in Hong
Kong but also the people that they serve, namely the importers, wholesalers and ultimately the consumers in the Community.
Indeed, it is probably the Community importers who will
be faced with the greater difficulty since the dispositions
in the market that have already been made would be totally
upset as a result of an arbitary, radical change at short
notice in the categorisation and classification. Pity, for
instance, the European mail order houses whose catalogues are already with the printer.
8.
The difficulties are likely to take months, maybe
even years to sort themselves out because the imperfections
in the proposed system are bound to lead to all sorts of
classification differences.
./ 9..
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