New import allowance?

Press, 22 October 1983, Page 5

New import allowance?

PA Wellington A new $175 duty-free import allowance may be introduced to replace the complicated set of allowances now in existence.

The new duty-free limit is an option being canvassed by the Customs Department, as part of its review of allowances. The trade and tariff officer of the Manufacturers’ Federation, Mr Mervyn Morrison, has confirmed that his was one of the organisations canvassed for its views on a new limit.

He said the concept was to give every person a $175 limit, and then charge full duty on anything else. A husband and wife could not combine entitlements to bring in a $350 piece of equipment. Present limits are $5O for

cameras and audio equipment, except television sets, and $5O for everything else, plus a small allowance for liquor and cigarettes.

For goods other than cameras and audio gear the next $lOO of value is charged at 25 per cent duty.

Mr Morrison said he believed the Customs Department was reacting to comElaints that the present sys?m was too complex, and was advocating a simpler system. The Manufacturers’ Federation did not object to a $175 import allowance, he said.

A spokesman for the Minister of Customs, Mr Allen, said that final reports were still awaited from the department. No comment would be made in the meantime.