Import ballots rejected

Press, 10 November 1982, Page 30

Import ballots rejected

PA Wellington The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Templeton, has rejected the ballot scheme for import licences suggested by the Bureau of Importers and Exporters. "Among the items which remain subject to import licensing, tendering applies to some and will provide a measure for levels of tariff,” he said.

"More important, the tendering is a move away from the old system that perpetuated licence-holding among a privileged few importers. The ballot scheme proposed by the bureau as an alternative to tendering would be little more than a disguised form of the historical system of licence-holding.” Mr Templeton said he was pleased that the bureau said importers did not want import licensing, for-the Government’s policy was to shift

instead to tariff control for greater fairness and competitiveness. Economic and social considerations dictated that this shift had to be gradual. "The tendering scheme is a key element in that shift,” Mr Templeton said. "Scarcity values reflected in tenders are transferred to the Consolidated Fund for the community as a whole rather than into the hands of importers."