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1 STATEMENT BY SR CHRSTOPHER SOAMES, VCE-PRESDENT OF THE COMMSSON, WNDNG UP A EUROPEAN PARLAMENT DEBATE ON THE REPORT OF MR KASPERET ON THE MULTLATERAL TRADE NEGOTATONS. ineesin~~~~~e~~~ n eplying o he we have jus had, would like fis o congaulae he Rappoeu and his Commiee and he ohe Commiees which povided maeial fo his Repo on he excellen basis which hey have povided fo odays Debae. As have said befoe in he House, gealy welcome hese oppouniies o discuss wha ae by any judgmen going o be lenghy and complex negoiaions. Up o now hei pupose has been limied so am no in a posiion o give moe han a peliminay ineim epo.. As he House is awae, he subsanive phase of hese Mulilaeal Tade Negoiaions only began in Geneva on 11 Febuay his yea, having been delayed fo nealy 18 monhs while he Unied Saes Tade Ac, which povided he essenial negoiaing powes fo US negoiaos, was passing hough Gongess. When his essenial pe-condiion o effecive negoiaion was finally fulfilled, he Communiy on is side was eady immediaely o engage in subsanive negoiaions acoss he whole aea coveed by he Tokyo Declaaion. And indeed, he negoiaing diecives \vi h which we began negoiaions in Febuay wen ahe wide han we had fis envisaged in he Conmuniys oiginal oveall vieh of hese negoiaions. Fo hey include fo he fis ime ceain povisions elaing o expo esicions and he poblem of access o ~ supplies of aw maeials, maes which have come vey much o he -" foe duing he peiod beween he fomal opening of he negoiaions in Tokyo in 1973 and hei effec.ive sa his yea. Since Feb-uo.y he \vok in Geneva Las be n coninuous c:.nci inensive and i has been possible o mak ou he boad lines of he negoiaions which mus be undeaken in he individual secos. A lage numbe of woking goups and sub-goups have been esablished and ae now beginning o ge hei eeh ino a whole mass of deailed poblems. So fa i mus be admied he wok has been moe of a pocedual and acical naue and we ae a long way ye fom being able o say wha so of soluions can be hoped fo a he end of he day. Bu i migh be useful o he House if wee o pass apidly in eview he pogess which has been made in he diffeen secos. \. would like fis o menion he mae of aiffs. M. Kaspeeis epo, coecly in my view, emphasises ha he loweing of aiff baies o give impoved access o makes can no longe be an exclusive objecive of ade negoiaions. Ye i neveheless emains ue ha an ageed fomula fo aiff educions will be a key elemen, indeed a sine ~a non, of he success of he negoiaio~s. And when hea i eing e Plained, las someimes Wj..,..,... ~

2 - 2 - as someimes do, ha aiffs ae no longe of much impoance, am suck by he conas beween ha view and he cies of poes ha go up fom individual indusies when i is suggesed ha ~, hei aiff poecion be educed. n any even, he Communiys appoach in he aiff field consiss of seeking a subsanial educion linked wih a hamonisaion of he levels of aiff, so ha hee will be seepe educion of high aiffs han of low. We have now pu fowad as a woking hypohesis in Geneva a fomula which would achieve his objecive and would esul in aiff educions being a funcion of he exising level of duy. Thee has been some iniial suppo in he negoiaions fo such a fomula, alhough ~eain delegaions would pefe o concenae on a linea educion of he ype which was applied duing he Kennedy Round and which would be a much less saisfacoy way of handling one of he main objecives of ou appoach, namely hamonisaion. Thee is a lo of wok o be done compaing vaious fomulae, and his is now going ahead. Bu doub whehe we shall pogess fa in his seco unil he auumn when he US Adminisaion will have compleed he heaings which hey ae caying ou. Theeafe hope we will be able o make moe apid pogess. Then hee is he exemely impoan seco of non-aiff baies whee we ae gappling wih a mass of such measues, some 850 of which have been noified o he GATT. Since Febuay eleven goups of baies have been seleced fo iniial examinaion, and have been allocaed o 4 diffeen sub-goups. The fis sub-g~oup will deal wih maes of cusoms poce.dues such as valuaion and nomenclaue; he second will deal wih echnical baies o ade, and his is whee he poposed sandads code comes in. The hid will look ino he emaining quaniaive esicions mainained and is of couse linked vey closely o he poblem of he adapaion of safeguad pocedues which is being di~cussed in paallel elsewhee in he negoiaions; and he fouh will deal wih subsidies and counevailing duies a field whee hee ae consan iians in ou elaions wih he US aising ou of he lack of an injuy cieion in US legislaion govening counevailing acion. Non-aiff baies is a big subjec, bu pehaps he House will bea wih me if single ou he quesion of he poposed code of sandads. The Communiy has acceped he pinciple of negoiaing a code which would be designed o peven obsacles o ade aising fom he adopion of ne"v sandads, fo example, qualiy o safey f-; sandads o measues aken o poec he envionmen. The pinciple is hus no a issue; bu he pacical applicaion of ~ such a code does povide difficulies. Wihin he Communiy we ae - cbomm~edoa dsubsdania~ effod ohdo away wih naciona~ec~ndic~l ~ a~es o a e an o ~n o uce w ee necessay ommun~ y-w~ e sandads obseved houghou he Membe Saes. We ae eady o l agee o hese new Communiy-wide sandads being subjeco an inenaional code, bu only o he exen ha ou negoiaing ~- /pane.s ~~ < ~-~

3 / panes will be similaly bound o give couny-wide effec o his same code. A his sage in he negoiaions i is sill unclea whehe fedeal saes can make an inenaionallynegoiaed discipline binding on hei sae govenmens in he same way as he Communiy as a whole would be bound by he povisions of such a code. Moeove, whee indusial sandads ae esablished in he pivae seco, he applicabiliy of an inenaional code is a moo poin. So, alhough his is a field in which we would like o make pogess, he House will appeciae ha hee ae difficul maes fo negoiaion befoe ageemen can be eached. On agiculue oo, fo all he difficuly ha his seco pesens, wok is well unde way. Thee negoiaing sub-goups have been se up o deal wih ceeals, mea and daiy poducs, all of hem aeas whee he Com_muniy is eady o negoiae inenaional ageemens. On ceeals in paicula he Communiy has now abled compehensive poposals fo a wold ageemen o. which hope ou negoiaing panes will give vey seious consideaion in he coming weeks. Hee believe hee is a field in which apid pogess could be made, and whee he making of such pogess would be of benefi o all paies. Thee is of couse a delicae poblem involved in fiing ino he famewok of he negoiaions going ahead in Geneva he moe limied discussions on sock-piling, which ae aking place cuenly in London following on las yeas Wold Food Confeence. The Communiy is of couse aking pa in boh hese foa and is opeaing in boh on he basis of guidelines se ou in ou negoiaing diecives fo he MTN. The poin would like o make clea oday is ha.. we ae bound o measue he possibiliy of paicipaing in limied sock-piling aangemens agains he pogess being made on a moe exensive wold ageemen in he negoiaions in Geneva. vey much 1;velcome he emphasis in he Repo befoe he House and in he esoluion on he ine-elaionship beween access o makes and access o supplies. This lae issue, bound up as i is wih he poblem of expo esicions is now being ackled in Geneva and he Communiy has a vey gea inees in seeing ha esuls ae achieved. Of couse i will no be easy o make pogess in his field which has neve been coveed in pevious ounds of ade negoiaions and i mus be clea ha o a vey consideable exen pogess in Geneva will depend on wha is done in ohe inenaional foa whee discussions ae likely o go ahead on he whole quesion of aw maeials supplies and access o hem. As he House will know, he Commission has sen fowad in ecen weeks a seies of poposals o he Council on a.. maeials which epesen a new and consucive appoach o his poblem. f ageemen can be eached in he Council o pu fowad such poposals on behalf of. he Conmuniy and o discuss hem in deph wih he counies supplying aw maeials, hen his will be a no unimpoan elemen in he Geneva negoiaions. Lasly, a wod abou he developing counies and hei place in he Geneva negoiaions. As we have always made clea ha we would, he Communiy is seeking o ake accoun of he ineess of he developing counies in all he individual secos of he negoiaion. Thee is also he paicula case of opical poducs ~~- L

4 - 4 - which we have ageed should be given a high pioiy and vjhee we ae now busy cqnsideing a numbe of eques liss fom he developing counies which have jus been abled. We inend o pess ahead wih his wok wih a view o making specific offes wihin he nex few monhs. us have no weaied he House oo much wih his pogess epo on he wok going on in Geneva. Whee now do we go fom hee? The nex milesone in hese negoiaions ivill be he meeing of he oveall Tade Negoiaing Commiee in July; and his meeing will in is un be looking fowad o he nex meeing of he Commiee in Novembe. We will need o look vey caefully a he wok ha has been done so fa and o see whehe hee ae ceain fields which ough o be given a pioiy in he 1 wok in he coning monhs. may well be ha we shall agee wih ou negoiaing panes ha ceain secos would mei a majo concenaion of effo wih a view o geing close o soluions 1 a an ealy dae. Bu hink i would pobably be umvise o go beyond such an effo and o seek, as some have suggesed, o daw. l up a lis of subjecs fo speedy compleion and ageemen, a kind ~ of mini-package as i has someimes been descibed. The poblem ;- abou such a move is ha one negoiaing pays pioiy subjec ~ is usually, almos by definiion, anohe negoiaing pays majo ~ difficuly. Thee is a isk heefoe ha when puing ogehe a lis of pioiy subjecs a.lage amoun of ime is wased in ~~ pocedual discussion and emphasis is aken off he seach fo, soluions on he subsance of he negoiaions in he secos concened. Hoeove, i is well o emembe ha he objecive of f hese negoiaions is o achieve an oveall balanced soluion.. is eviden ha many of he subjecs unde discussion, alhough no ~.. ~.)./ all of hem, canno be self-balancing in hemselves. This simple, fac means ha if we ae o achieve an oveall balanced soluion i can only be by seing off he advanages in one field agains an accepable degee of imbalance in anohe. And hi.s in iself agues-fo a coninued effo o advance ove a boad fon. n conclusion, M Pesiden, would like o sae vey clealy he Commissions view ha hese negoiaions ae of he geaes impoance fo he fuue. n he immediae pesen.. believe hey ae playing a significan pa in conaining he heas which oday menace he wold ading sysem. The mee pesence of he negoiaos of he main ading panes of he wold in Geneva, woking fo a geae libealisaion of he sysem and is adapaion o he condiions of he 70s and 80s is in iself a bake on poecionis pessues. Bu moe impoan han ha, i enables us o look fowad o and wok fo a peiod when we shall have come ou of he pesen wold ecession and when he issu7?f speci~icdneasu:es o f_l~bealwisaion will bef a lessh ~, sens~ ~ve one ~n ones ~c. po 1 ~ ~cs. e mus neve oge " en, exposed o he day-o-day pessues fo a moe esicive aiude in hese negoiaions, ha he changes we ae negoiaing ae no : fo implemenaion omoow o even fo nex yea, bu fo a peiod l owads he end of his decade. So i is cucial ha we should 1 ~~~ be pu ou of ou side by he oubles ha cuenly suound L.~ ~,- /Meanwhile ~,~ l i i f (. 1 f J ~~ ~

5 / Meanwhile ou labous in Geneva ae no going oo badly, and he Communiys voice has made iself head. was we who fis abled ou views on he aiff fomula, and we have been aking he lead in he discussions on agiculue. We ae doing quie well, and believe ha we will keep i ha way..,.