TNAG-1497-FCO40-2055-Guangdong-nuclear-power-station-project-at-Daya-Bay-safety-c-1986 — Page 122

WE SAW A DANGER THAT THE SETTING OF TOO LOW A LEVEL FOR IMPORTS

COULD LEAD TO THE NEED TO DESTROY SOME COMMUNITY PRODUCTION. DID THE

COMMISSION HAVE ANY DATA ON THIS? RUTTEN (PRESIDENCY) ADDED THAT TOO

LOW A THRESHOLD FOR IMPORTS INTO THE COMMUNITY COULD AFFECT

COMMUNITY EXPORTS, AND ASKED WHETHER THE PROPOSAL WAS COMPATIBLE

WITH THE TRADING OBLIGATIONS OF THE COMMUNITY. WHY HAD THE

COMMISSION CHOSEN THIS ROUTE RATHER THAN USING THE SAME REGIME AS

APPLIED TO INTRACOMMUNITY TRADE? UNGERER (FRG) NOTED THAT THE

COMMUNITY WOULD BE CULPABLE UNDER THE GATT IF WE SET LIMITS FOR

IMPORTS MORE STRINGENT THAN THOSE USED FOR INTERNAL TRADE. HE ALSO

QUERIED THE PROPOSED YEAR'S DURATION.

6. THE COMMUNITY (BRESELER AND GREY) GAVE THE FOLLOWING ANSWERS

TO THESE AND VARIOUS OTHER QUESTIONS RAISED:

(4) THE PROPOSED LEGAL BASE WAS ARTICLE 113 BECAUSE, AS WITH

REGULATION 1388/66, THIS WAS THE APPROPRIATE BASIS FOR WHAT THE

COMMISSION VIEWED AS A FOREIGN TRADE MEASURE

(B) MEMBER STATES HAD THE RIGHT, UNDER ARTICLE 2 OF THE PROPOSAL TO

STOP CONTAMINATED CONSIGNMENTS BEFORE THE ADDITIONAL SANCTIONS

ENVISAGED IN ARTICLE 5 WERE AGREED UPON.

(C) 30TH THE PROPOSED COMMON LEVELS AND THE ONE YEAR DURATION WERE

SET WITH AN EYE TO PRUDENCE. CERTAIN MEMBER STATES HAD BEEN MORE

SEVERELY AFFECTED BY THE ACCIDENT THAN OTHERS, AND THEREFORE HAD TO

BE MORE CAUTIOUS IN THE LEVELS THEY NOW SET. RADIATION COULD TURN UP

IN ALL SORTS OF FOOD (EG MILK IN CHOCOLATE) AND AT ANY TIME. THE 500

BQ/KG LEVEL WAS NOT DISSIMILAR TO THE 370 BQ/KG SET BY THE US AND

WAS, IN THE COMMISSIONS JUDGEMENT, THE BEST LEVEL TO SET FOR THE

WHOLE COMMUNITY (THEY EMPHASISED IN THIS CONTEXT THE WIDE VARIETY OF

LEVELS CHOSEN BY OTHER STATES FROM 2000 BQ/KG RECOMMENDED BY THE WHO

TO 300 BQ/KG IN SWEDEN AND 10 BQ/KG FOR BABY FOOD IN AUSTRIA), THE

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LEVEL FOR MILK AND BABY FOOD AND FOR OTHER

PRODUCTS WAS OF COURSE DICTATED BY THE HIGH SENSITIVITY OF BABIES

AND THE HIGH PROPORTION OF MILK IN THEIR DIETS.

(D) THE LEVELS WERE A COMBINED TOTAL FOR CAESIUM 134 AND CAESTUM 137

(E) COMPATIBILITY OF THE PROPOSED REGULATIONS WITH THE GATT MIGHT

WELL DEPEND UPON THE EXISTENCE OF DEROGATION IN THE LATTER FOR

PUBLIC HEALTH MEASURES. THE COMMISSION WILL CHECK THIS POINT AND

REPORT BACK

(F) FLEXIBILITY, FOR THOSE MEMBER STATES WHICH HAD DOUBTS ABOUT ANY

PARTICULAR FEATURES OF THE PROPOSED REGIME, WAS BUILT IN THROUGH

ARTICLE 6 (WHICH ALLOWED FOR AMENDMENT BY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES)

(G) THE COMMISSION HAD RECOMMENDED THIS APPROACH RATHER THAN THAT

USED FOR INTRA COMMUNITY TRADE BECAUSE THE LATTER WOULD CONFRONT

EXPORTERS WITH 12 DIFFERENT SETS OF NATIONAL LEVELS. IT WAS

IMPORTANT ON THIS MATTER THAT THE COMMUNITY ACT AS A COMMUNITY AND

MAINTAIN A COMMON EXTERNAL FRONT.

(H) VERY FEW COMMUNITY PRODUCTS DO NOT MEET THE LEVELS PROPOSED IE

(PERHAPS) A FEW CHEESES OF CERTAIN DATES AND CERTAIN TYPES OF

BAVARIAN GAME. THESE WERE MOST EXCEPTIONAL CATEGORIES, VERY MINOR IN

TERMS OF INTRA COMMUNITY TRADE.

(1) THERE WAS NO AGREEMENT AMONG EXPERTS ON WHEN CAESTUM LEVELS WERE LIKELY TO PEAK, BUT THERE WAS A GENERAL FEELING THAT THIS WAS

UNLIKELY TO BE A SERIOUS PROBLEM.

Confidential

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