TNAG-0938-FCO40-1157-Visit-of-John-Nott--Secretary-of-State-for-Trade--to-Hong-Ko-1980 — Page 40

DI.

BRIEF 3 PART IV

TEXTILE MISSION TO HONG KONG

SUPPLEMENTARY BACKGROUND BRIEFING ON "BOLERO SUITS"

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Alec Smith, General Secretary of National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers has written to the Secretary of State to say that there is a possibility that jeans are being imported as "bolero suits", thus evading quotas. This followed the publication in "Menswear" of a letter in which a retailer claimed that once the garments had been imported as suits, the bolero top (an unfinished article) was discarded and the trousers were then sold as cord jeans.

Customs and Excise advise that the garments would be classified under the tariff headings for suits. They would, therefore, count against MFA Category 16 men's suits. Customs officials are only concerned with classification on import and have no jurisdiction over what happens to the goods once they are on the market.

The garments may come from Hong Kong where a quota of 377,000 pieces on imports into the UK of Category 16 already applies for 1980. Up to 31 July 1980, 28% of this quota had been licensed. The Hong Kong quota on Category 6, trousers, including jeans, is 23,844,000 pieces of which 58% had been licensed up to 31 July 1980.

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