Computer approval disputed

Press, 7 August 1982, Page 6

Computer approval disputed

The Customs Department has denied that it has approved a new offer made by Apple Computers New Zealand distributors designed to consolidate the hold Apple Computer has on the school market.

Apple was offering schools a computer at $l2OO, a quarter of the normal price. After a complaint by the New Zealand manufacturer in the same market, Polycorp, the Customs Department decided that the Apple offer was dumping ‘ and therefore unfair competition. It imposed an $B2O dumping duty. Now Apple has come up with a new offer. Apple's New Zealand distributor, CED Distributors. Ltd. will sell the computer for $2020 and CED Distributors will include in the price additional products — two programme languages and an extra memory card worth more than $B2O — to keep the offer attractive. Mr Brian Eardly-Wilmot. sales director of CED Distributors, says that the offer has the approval of the Customs Department.' However, the Assistant

Comptroller of Customs. Mr George Bathgate, said from Wellington yesterday that this was not true.

Mr Bathgate said that Customs had been sent a copy of the circular CEE) Distributors had sent to headmasters making the new • offer and that was all the information Customs had on it. Customs had written to : CED asking for more details and until it got these the matter was in limbo.

If the offer of additional software was being made by CED, a New Zealand company, out of the goodness of its heart, there, was no problem, said Mr Bathgate. If, however, the software was being offered from abroad by Apple for nothing or at an, unreasonably low price, that was dumping and the Customs , Department would have to act.

The whole point of the anti-dumpihg laws was to protect New Zealand manufacturers from unfair competition from abroad, said Mr Bathgate. They were designed to ensure that the distributors in New Zealand of foreign goods were on an

equal footing with local manufacturers. In this case it was a question .of who was bearing the loss. involved, said Mr Bathgate. If it was CED there was no problem. If it was the overseas manufacturer,. Apple, there was a problem.. "On the face of it. this new

offer could still be dumping.” said Mr Bathgate. “There are one or two grey areas, but we have never at any stage said that this new offer was not dumping. “We have written to CED asking it to say specifically what the offer is and what its costs are.”

Earlier report, page 19