Even though we still have additional steps to take, for us to participate in a process that ensures as much as possible a legitimate diamond trade, a trade that stops the blood diamond trade as much as possible, and hopefully one day completely and entirely stops it, is something that also helps our legitimate domestic diamond trade.

We know that without effective action to eliminate the trade in conflict diamonds, the trade in legitimate diamonds faces the threat of a consumer backlash that could damage the economies of countries not involved in the trade of conflict diamonds and penalize members of the legitimate trade and the people they employ.

Furthermore, I believe that it prejudices a proper and legitimate aspect of intra-European trade, threatening to reduce the movement of literature across Europe to the level of pornography sent through the post, so I am reliably informed, in unmarked brown manilla envelopes, and in the free world reducing the legitimate trade in books to the level of smuggling in and out of eastern Europe of so-called subversive literature.

The fundamental principle which defines the agreement is not the elimination of existing barriers to trade but, rather, there is merely a commitment in Article 101 that the provinces will not establish new barriers to internal trade.

Canadians were hopeful that at last barriers would come down and they would have free access to goods and services, jobs and the competitive marketplace because the trade barriers between provinces would be broken down.

That framework aims to: 1. guarantee that Community law is applied in such a way as to achieve equivalent results at every point of the Community customs territory in order to: - avoid distortions likely to prejudice the proper functioning of the internal market which might arise owing to variations in the way customs procedures are applied in the various parts of the Community; - protect the Community's interests, particularly its financial interests; - afford an equivalent level of protection to the Community's citizens and economic operators, at whatever point in the Community customs territory customs clearance formalities are carried out, while ensuring the necessary smooth flow of trade operations; 2. provide a framework for consid ...[+++]ering the Community dimension in the organization of services and in the provision of infrastructures and equipment, and promote the joint use of operational material contributing to the implementation of Community rules; 3. foster initiatives that Member States may propose to implement, singly or jointly, to improve the overall efficiency of customs administrations in carrying out their tasks; 4. help Member States develop training for customs officials by adapting it to their changing role in the implementation of Community customs rules and common policies at external borders; 5. contribute, by appropriate actions in the fields of training and technical assistance and cooperation, to the establishment or the development of high-quality customs services in third countries that so request under agreements which the Community has concluded or may conclude with those third countries, and by this means encourage the development of Community trade; 6. encourage openness and efficiency of customs action for the benefit of legitimate trade by strengthening relations between the Community's customs administrations, business, legal and scientific circles, and operators engaged in international trade.