NEW CUSTOMS DUTIES

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30947, 31 December 1965, Page 1

NEW CUSTOMS DUTIES

New Zealanders returning from overseas after today will have to pay up to 130 per cent customs duty on portable television sets. New customs regulations which will come into force

tomorrow will remove portable television sets- from the list of duty-free personal effects. Portable television sets made outside the Commonwealth will be dutiable at the rate of 130 per cent of their value. Those made within the Commonwealth will be dutiable at 65 per cent of thenvalue. New Zealand residents returning home will also be restricted in the number of cameras they may import free of duty. They will be allowed either one still camera with 12 plates or five rolls of film or one cine camera with two reels of film.

Previously they were allowed two still cameras or one still and one cine camera. Customs officers will also take a closer look at clothes, which in f uture will be liable to duty.

To be exempt, clothing must have been worn. Furs will be exempt provided they have been owned and worn for at least 12 months and the cost of any one item of fur does not exceed £6O. For dutiable and non-duti-able goods which exceed £5O in value and are not entitled to any concessions, an import licence will be required. Certain dutiable goods which do not qualify for concession as personal, household or other effects may qualify for concession provided their value does not exceed £5O, they accompany the owner on the same vessel or aircraft, are not for sale or exchange

or use in the owner’s business or profession, and are not imported for anyone else. This concession will not apply to cigarettes, tobacco, cigars, wines, spirits, fur apparel, cameras, radios, tape recorders, and television sets. The chief customs officer in Christchurch (Mr J. Raleigh) said yesterday that to obtain the maximum concessions available, dutiable goods should accompany passengers on the same ship or aircraft. Goods which qualify for concession as wearing apparel, personal, household, or other effects may be collected after the owner's arrival in New Zealand.