TNAG-0763-FCO40-967-Effect-of-GATT-Multi-Fibre-Arrangement-(MFA)-on-Hong-Kong-ex-1978 — Page 167

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Preferential Countries

The Regulation on imports from Spain had been amended, the word "obligatory" before "accompanied" had been added in Article 1.

The Dutch delegation said that the Regulation still did not foresee a legal basis providing the possibility of suspending import licences in case of an error on the part of the Spanish.

In reply to the Dutch delegation, the Commission representative said that during the meeting in Madrid it was formally agreed to suspend delivery of import licences if necessary in some regions if these make formal requests for formal consultations. It was not possible to suspend import licences without a formal agreement on the figures. The matter would be taken up in the 113 Committee of the following day. He added that the report of the last meeting with the Spanish was delayed due to lack of time:

Turkey

A Commission delegation had gone to Istanbul for contacts with the Turkish textile industries, and the authorities had sent a telex informing the Commission of a discrepancy in figures supplied by Member States and the figures the Commission had reproduced. on the basis of import licences issued for real imports. Member States were requested to check this and give their answers as soon as possible.

Hong Kong

The UK delegation mentioned a legal problem the UK had with Hong Kong. It concerned goods shipped in 1977 and that were being held in the UK docks due to a commercial dispute. In accordance with Regulation No 3019/77 goods shipped before 1/1/1978 should be put into free circulation before 1/4/1978 and subsequently the UK could not let the goods in. According to the Hong Kong authorities, Article 14, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Textile Agreement with the Community obliged the UK to let the goods in. The UK delegation asked for legal advice from the Commission.