To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the level of imports and exports of perfumes for each of the last five years defined by country.
The available information is given in the following table. The value of United Kingdom exports in 1991, £62 million, was 3 per cent. higher than in 1990, while imports fell by 5 per cent. to £116 million.
| United Kingdom Trade in Perfumes and Toilet Waters1 (Countries ranked by 1991 trade) Imports, £ million | ||||
| Country | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 |
| France | 68·7 | 73·0 | 83·4 | 66·1 |
| United States of America | 6·7 | 12·7 | 11·6 | 14·7 |
| Netherlands | 2·5 | 4·2 | 6·4 | 8·0 |
| Germany2 | 10·0 | 2·2 | 3·3 | 6·2 |
| Switzerland | 6·6 | 5·2 | 6·2 | 5·1 |
| Others | 10·1 | 10·6 | 11·0 | 16·2 |
| Total | 104·7 | 107·9 | 121·9 | 116·2 |
| Exports, £ million | ||||
| France | 4·8 | 7·0 | 11·6 | 9·2 |
| Germany2 | 5·9 | 4·9 | 5·7 | 6·3 |
| United States of America | 1·8 | 3·3 | 5·2 | 6·0 |
| Italy | 4·8 | 4·4 | 5·2 | 3·7 |
| Saudi Arabia | 3·3 | 4·5 | 4·5 | 3·2 |
| Irish Republic | 2·2 | 1·7 | 1·7 | 2·7 |
| Dubai | 1·4 | 1·5 | 1·6 | 2·6 |
| Others | 29·7 | 26·8 | 24·6 | 28·4 |
| Total | 54·0 | 54·1 | 60·3 | 61·9 |
| 1 Perfumes and toilet waters are defined as item 553·1 of the Standard International Trade Classification, Revision 3. | ||||
| 2 Germany includes the former East Germany throughout. | ||||
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on negotiations concerning intellectual property rights in respect of perfumes during the current GATT round.
The Government welcome the progress made in the GATT Uruguay round negotiations on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPs). The GATT Director-General's proposals for improved international rules for the protection and enforcement of all main forms of intellectual property should benefit United Kingdom trading interests. The perfume industry stands to benefit particularly from his proposals for strengthened multilateral rules to combat trade in counterfeit goods and to protect undisclosed trade information.