FEARS OF G.A.T.T.

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29983, 19 November 1962, Page 11

FEARS OF G.A.T.T.

Food Trade Disruption (N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) GENEVA, Nov. 17. Fears that the European Common Market might disrupt the world market in agricultural products were expressed in a report published today by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

The 20,000-word document was the highly-detailed technical report of a three-week review of the Common Market's food policies by a special G.A.T.T. committee. The report was unanimously approved at a closed plenary session of the 40nation G.A.T.T. conference yesterday, the Associated Press said.

The Common Market representative, Mr Theodore Hijzen, of Holland, assured the committee that the Common Market would consult with overseas food producers to avoid disruption of their trade as far as possible. Anxiety over the Common Market's food policies was expressed mainly by the United States, Canada. Australia and Argentina, although the report mentioned none of them by name. It said the "exporting members of the committee" expressed fears that the Common Market’s protective system of levies and subsidies would not only close the Common Market area to many food imports, but would allow subsidised Common Market food exports to undercut market prices in other countries.

“Efficient producers in third countries could not possibly protect themselves against these effects by lowering their own costs,” the exporters said. "This adverse impact on world trade assumed evan greater importance if and as the Six became an enlarged community. "The very size of such a community as an economic unit could enable it to dictate the terms of trade in agricultural products to the outside world.”

Mr Hijzen told the committee the Common Market's food price policy was still bying negotiated between the six countries. He denied that the proposed system “led in the long run to an eviction of third country exporters." The British delegation notified the committee that if Britain joined the Common Market she would call on the market to “seek world-wide agreements for the principal agricultural products covering. among other things, price and production policy.”