asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he has now any further information to give to the Dáil relating to the envisaged Free Trade Area in Europe; and if he will give details.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Free Trade Area.
Three memoranda outlining the nature of the Free Trade Area proposals and the proposals made in considering these have already been issued officially and made available to members of the Dáil. It is not necessaru, therefore, for me to outline the proposals again. The general direction of the Free Trade Area negotiations was entrusted by the Council of O.E.E.C. to an inter-governmental committee on which all the countries of the organisation are represented.
This committee have had five series of meetings: on 14th-16th November, 1957; 28th-29th November, 1957; 15th-16th January, 1958; 17th-18th February, 1958, and 11th-13th March, 1958. They have discussed various aspects of the Free Trade Area proposals, they have given directions for the drawing up of a number of Articles of a Free Trade Area Convention, and have referred certain problems to committees of experts for further study. Much detailed work remains to be done.
One of the most important points on which difficulty has arisen is the treatment of agriculture and agricultural products. The main problems on agriculture are:—
(a) the safeguarding of the interests of food-exporting member countries who would be opening their markets to industrial goods; and
(b) the avoidance of discrimination between one food-exporting country and another.
British proposals on agriculture were considered at the January meetings of the committee. No definite conclusions were reached at those meetings, and the matter may be considered again at the next meeting of the committee on 31st instant.
Another matter on which difficulty has arisen is the problem of the origin of goods. On this matter there is a different of opinion between those countries which consider that in a Free Trade Area member countries should have freedom regarding the fixing of external tariffs and those which maintain that member countries should agree to operate a common external tariff. During the discussion on this matter at the last meeting of the committee the Italian delegate put forward a proposal which has come to be known as the "Carli Plan". This is claimed to be a reasonable compromise between the conflicting views previously put forward. The proposal is based on the idea that, where the difference between the external tariffs of two member countries is greater than a limit to be laid down, the country with the higher tariff may levy, on goods imported from the country with the lower tariff, a compensating charge based on the difference between the two rates. The implications of the proposal are at present being studied by a group of trade experts in Paris who, it is expected, will submit a preliminary report to the inter-governmental committee at their meeting next week.
The requests of certain countries, including Ireland, for special treatment as countries in the process of economic development continue to be studied by the special working party established for that purpose.
In view of the uncertainty regarding some of the main aspects of the Free Trade Area proposals the Deputy will appreciate that it is not possible to make a more detailed statement at present.