}
RENEWAL OF THE MULTIFIBRE ARRANGEMENT
RESULTS OF THE BILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS
The EEC Council of Ministers approved the Commission's mandate for the bilateral negotiations on 18 October and formal negotiations began with the supplying countries immediately afterwards. In all 34 suppliers were involved the 29 envisaged in the mandate plus Bangladesh, Haiti, Iran, Indonesia and Peru. A full list of the suppliers is at Annex A.
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By the middle of December agreement had been reached with 27 out of the 34, and autonomous measures proposed for Taiwan. Of the remaining 6 countries, three negotiations remained incomplete, Spain and Portugal did not agree to voluntary restraint, and negotiations with Israel were not pursued since further examination of relative import prices demonstrated that Israel could not be regarded as a low-cost supplier.
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The Council considered the results of the bilateral
negotiation on 19-20 December and decided (i) to approve the agreements with individual suppliers negotiated by the Commission and (ii) on this basis to authorise the Commission to accept on behalf of the Community the Protocol opened in Geneva on
14 December for the renewal of the MFA for a further 4 years from 1 January 1978. In doing so, the Commission made it clear that the EEC would only apply the provisions of the MFA to those supplying countries which concluded satisfactory bilateral agreements with the Community.
4. At the time of the Council agreement had been reached in most cases only on the economic content of the agreements (ie quota coverage, base levels and growth rates). However full bilateral agreements have now been initialled with 21 suppliers; a further two agreements remain to be initialled and three negotiation have not been concluded. Special arrangements have been reached with the Mediterranean suppliers and autonomous measures introduced for Taiwan. Details are shown at Annex B.
5 As a result of these new measures, 95% of the UK's low-cost imports of textiles and clothing are covered by actual or potential restraint (ie by immediate quotas or by automatic safeguard provisions). If the existing arrangements for state trading countries with whom the EEC has not negotiated bilateral
agreements are taken into account, the coverage is increased to 98%.
New bilateral agreements
6 The new agreements which will in general last for 5 years will take a standard form and set out the economic provisions described in paragraph 5 and provisions for implementing the quotas (including licensing and control procedures, flexibility allowed in the operation of quotas and consultation provisions).
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