Move away from comprehensive import controls

Press, 8 April 1987, Page 8

Move away from comprehensive import controls

PA Wellington The Government said yesterday there would be a “positive” schedule of import licensing this year, marking a move away from comprehensive controls. Since import licensing was introduced, goods have been subject to import control unless declared exempt. The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Caygill, said this concept would soon change. He said that goods would not be subject to import controls unless these were listed as controlled goods in the “positive” schedule.

Mr Caygill, in an address to the Bureau of Importers and Exporters in Auckland, said that a true positive schedule would not be introduced before July, 1988, because of legislative requirements.

“However, we have decided to publish a ‘de

facto’ version of the posi- i five schedule this year so > that the business community and other users can familiarise themselves with it,” he said. Import licensing was first introduced in 1938 to conserve foreign exchange, but over the years has changed to providing industry protection. A positive schedule would mean a shorter list of items and that would be easier for manufacturers, said the executive director of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association, Mr lan Howell. Instead of a list which had almost every item on it marked as exempt or controlled, only the items subject to licensing controls would be listed. The list was not as important to manufacturers as when raw materials were included. Manufacturers were more interested in Government policy on tariffs ■ and protection than in redrawing the list, he said.