asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he had explored at any time the possibility of a trading agreement with the EEC and, if so, if he would outline in detail the result of his explorations.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - EEC Trading Agreement.
1.
The Government's decision to apply for membership of the EEC was based on a full examination of all possible options open to this country including the conclusion of a trade agreement with the Community. It was taken in the conviction that the national interest would best be served in membership.
2.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the countries which had at present entered into any form of trading agreement with the EEC countries and if he would outline the terms of such agreements in detail in each case; and if he would also indicate the countries which had expressed the intention of negotiating a trade agreement in the future.
The Deputy presumably has in mind trading agreements between the EEC and non-member countries.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to circulate with the official report an outline of the Community's preferential trade agreements with non-member countries together with a list of its non-preferential trade agreements.
The Community is opening negotiations for trade agreements with the EFTA countries which have not applied for membership, namely, Austria, Finland, Iceland, Portugal, Switzerland and Sweden. Trade negotiations are currently in progress with Japan and the Community has decided to open negotiations also with Cyprus, Brazil and Uruguay.
Outline of the EEC's Preferential Trading Agreements with Non-Member Countries:
The Community's preferential trading agreements with non-member countries fall into two main groups.
(a) Association agreements with developing African States: The EEC Treaty provides for the association with the Community of the following non-European countries and territories having special relationships with member States:
Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Dahomey, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Somali, Togo, Upper Volta.
Under the Convention providing for the association agreements, these countries have access duty free to the Community market for most industrial goods and extensive preferences for non-industrial products. In return the countries concerned grant tariff reductions to imports from the member States of the Community. There is provision also for financial aid from the Community to the African States. The current Convention (the Second Yaoundé Convention) expires on 31 January, 1975 and it is envisaged that it will be re-negotiated. There is a similar Convention, the Arusha Convention, providing for association between the Community and Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
(b) Association Agreements or Trade Agreements with Mediterranean States:
(1) Greece: The association agreement between the Community and Greece is designed to achieve a customs union between the parties. All Greek industrial goods will be November, 1974 be free of duties and quantitative restrictions on entry into the Community. Community industrial goods will have access to Greece free of duty and quantitative restriction by 1984. In the case of a limited number of industrial goods, Greece will give the Community duty-free access by the end of 1974. There are also reciprocal tariff preferences in trade between the parties in certain agricultural products.
(2) Israel: Under the trade agreement with Israel which operates for five years from October, 1970, the Community is reducing by up to 50 per cent its duties on the majority of Israeli industrial goods and by 40 per cent its duties on Israeli citrus fruit. Israel is reducing by up to 30 per cent her duties on a wide range of Community goods.
(3) Malta: The Community's association agreement with Malta provides that Community duties on imports from Malta will be reduced by 70 per cent in 1976 and that quantitative restrictions on Maltese goods will be eliminated. Malta's duties on most Community goods will be reduced by 35 per cent over the period 1971 to 1975.
(4) Morocco and Tunisia: The association agreements with Morocco and Tunisia give most of the industrial goods of these countries access to the Community free of duty and quantitative restrictions, while a wide range of Community industrial goods and certain agricultural products have access duty free or at preferential rates to these countries.
(5) Spain: The preferential agreement between Spain and the Community, which runs from 1970 to 1976, provides that by 1973 most Spanish industrial goods will benefit from a 30 per cent to a 70 per cent reduction in Community duties while duties on citrus fruits will be reduced by 40 per cent. Community industrial goods will by the end of 1976 enjoy tariff reductions ranging from 30 per cent to 70 per cent on importation into Spain. There are certain concessions for Community agricultural products entering Spain.
(6) Turkey: The association agreement with Turkey, which is designed to achieve a customs union in due course, provides that as from 1 September, 1971, all Turkish industrial products, with certain exceptions in the textile sectors, are free of duty and quantitative restrictions on importation into the Community. Turkish duties and quantitative restrictions on Community goods are to be dismantled by 1986. Turkish agricultural products will also benefit from tariff concessions. This agreement also provides for the grant of financial aid to Turkey.
EEC's Non-Preferential Trade Agreements with Non-member Countries.
A. Bilateral agreements (within the framework of GATT):
1. Agreements of 7 March 1962 with the USA with regard to wheat and other cereals and with Canada in respect of ordinary wheat. Their validity is suspended for the duration of the International Grain Arrangement.
2. Agreement of 30 June 1967 with Switzerland on clock and watchmaking products.
3. Exchange of letters of 30 June 1967 with Switzerland laying down procedures for revising the minimum values for tariff concessions in the Common Customs Tariff on certain textiles.
4. Exchange of letters of 30 June 1967 with Switzerland with regard to bolting cloth.
5. Exchange of letters of 30 June 1967 with Switzerland on the share of the Community in butter imports into Switzerland.
6. Exchange of letters of 30 June 1967 with Switzerland with regard to the Swiss import quotas on red wine, sausages and the like, tinned hams and cut flowers coming from the Community.
7. Exchange of letters with Sweden, Denmark and Norway dated 30 June, 1967, concerning the procedures for applying the reference price for herrings.
8. Exchange of letters with Japan dated 27 November, 1967, concerning the concession by the Community on tunny and the procedures for applying the reference price.
9. Exchange of letters with Japan dated 27 November, 1967, concerning Japanese offers to open import quotas (confectionery, with or without cocoa, macaroni, etc.).
10. Agreement with Austria of 22 July, 1970 concerning cattle for processing.
B. The following Agreements on cotton textiles have been concluded by the Community on the basis of Article 4 of the Long-Term Agreement on Cotton Textiles:
1. Agreement with the United Arab Republic due to expire on 30 September 1973; 2. Agreement with India, due to expire on 30th September, 1973; 3. Agreement with Pakistan, due to expire on 30th September, 1973; 4. Agreement with Taiwan, due to expire on 30th September, 1973; 5. Agreement with Korea, due to expire on 30th September, 1973; 6. Agreement with Hong Kong, due to expire on 30th September, 1973.
C. Arrangement with Switzerland dated 1 August, 1969 on the textile processing trade.
D. Trade Agreement of 19 March, 1970 between the Community and Yugoslavia providing for “most favoured nation” treatment and for limited and conditional reductions in the Community's levies in respect of certain cattle and meat.
E. Trade Agreement of 8 November 1971 between the Community and Argentina which comes into force on 1 January, 1972 and is valid until 31 December, 1974, contains certain provisions for duty free import into the Community of a limited quota of frozen beef and veal, and certain other concessions.
F. The following Agreements concluded by the Community in the form of exchanges of letters set out the terms under which the non-member countries in question may avail themselves of the global tariff-free quota opened annually by the Community with regard to handicraft products:
1. India: exchange of letters dated 1 August, 1969 and supplementary agreement on 20 August, 1970.
2. Pakistan: exchange of letters dated 19 December, 1969 and supplementary agreement on 29 September, 1970.
G. Agreement of 30 June, 1967 with the USA concerning conditional tariff concessions, chiefly in the chemical products sector.
H. Trade Agreement of 14 October, 1963 between the Community and Iran, as amended by the exchange of letters of 8 November, 1967, provides for certain concessions in respect of imports into the Community of carpets, dried fruit and caviar.
I. Agreements of 27 November, 1969 between the Community and India, and of 19 January, 1971 between the Community and Pakistan concerning trade in jute products.
J. Agreement on Trade and Technical Co-operatives with the Lebanon, of 21 May, 1965, providing for “most favoured nation” treatment.
Are there 70 countries which have trade agreements with the EEC?
I am circulating a long list.
Are there about 70?
I would have to count them.
Could the Minister say for what period the Government discussed the idea of a trading agreement and whether or not there were discussions on the question of a trading agreement with the Commission?
The decision to apply for membership was made in 1961 but negotiations broke down. Our application was reactivated in 1967 and a renewed examination was carried out then and again 18 months ago. Each time we have reactivated our application there has been a re-examination of the possibilities and options open. The possibilities of any agreement would only become obvious after negotiating. A detailed announcement of what we could obtain would only be possible when negotiations were complete. The impossibility of participating in the common agricultural policy was made quite clear to us by the Community so that any trade agreement which would allow free trade access to the Community would not give the farming community the benefits contained in the common agricultural policy. We would not have any opportunity of participating in decision making on trade or other matters in the Community. These two considerations served to decide the Government that the national interest lay in membership.
Recognising the difficulty of setting out details of 73 agreements and recognising that we would have in absorbing and assessing their relevance to us could the Minister give us details of those cases where these agreements cover temperate agricultural products of the kind we produce and the kind of terms if any which these countries have got in respect of them?
I am circulating general details of the different agreements. What the Deputy wants will be contained in what I am circulating.
Will it enable us to see what terms the Yugoslavs get for beef, the amount that is allowed in? Is all that kind of information in the Minister's reply?
The Deputy will find that concessions given in relation to agriculture are not of the temperate type. If Deputies find the information I have circulated inadequate I would find it useful if they would let me know where it is inadequate because I would like to be quite clear what is available to us.
The Minister appreciates our particular concern about these products. I am not convinced that anyone has got much in the way of concessions——
The concessions are in the areas we do not supply.
Could the Minister say if at any stage the Commission suggested we should have a trade agreement rather than full membership?
No.
Is the Minister keeping an eye on the Swedish trade agreement which is supposed to be of a revolutionary character?
We are aware of what is going on with EFTA countries. Deputies should have regard to our state of development and the possibility of our being able to contend with a situation in which we do not participate in the common agricultural policy. It should be remembered that we do not have the degree of industrial development which these other countries have.