List of duty-free goods

Press, 13 December 1985, Page 3

List of duty-free goods

Virtually everything not made in New Zealand will be duty-free as a result of the Government’s latest economic package. The newly exempt items were detailed in a 48-page, 500-item schedule ranging from pen nibs to pigeon timing devices. The measure is in addition to the speeding up of the tariff reduction measures announced in September. The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Caygill, said that the Government made the move because of farmers’ proposals to lift the duty on farm bikes. The Government then decided to widen the scope to cover nearly all products not made in New Zealand. The removal of duty on motor-cycles which now carry a 30 per cent duty, is one of the main aspects of the measure. In all the Government will lose $6O million in revenue out of a total of $lOOO million collected from duties.

In addition to these measures, which will be introduced at the beginning of 1986, the Government intends to seek a reduction in tariffs on a number of other goods including some covered by industry plans which are of particular importance to the farming sector.