Wellington, 9 October 1981
No 3548. CONFIDENTIAL NZEO IMMEDIATE
CER: Elimination of Import Restrictions in Reasonable Time
- Further to our separate message, you should know that very informal soundings have been taken of Manufacturers Federation Secretariat and Stevens (President) only of elected officers. A wider consultation with the Manufacturers Federation at this sensitive time (Federation conference later this month) would inevitably bring an unhelpful reaction.
- We have taken account of their reactions in suggesting following approach in your response to Australian officials. We suggest you initially try the following formulation:
‘At the end of the tariff phasing period, there would be a review which would examine the progress towards liberalisation of access restrictions and assess what further action may be necessary consistent with the objectives of a closer economic relationship.’
Depending on the Australian response you might then want to move to the following:
‘At the end of the tariff phasing period, there would be a review which would examine the progress towards liberalisation of import restrictions and assess what needed to be done to effect complete removal of the remaining restrictions by a terminal date to be considered at the review and which would be consistent with the objective of “reasonable time”.’
This is in line with the approach put to the CEC. - Point made in para 3 of our earlier immediate message replying to your 3004 of course applies.
[ABHS 950/Boxes1221-1226, 40/411 Part 39 Archives New Zealand/Te Whare Tohu Tuhituhinga 0 Aotearoa, Head Office, Wellington]