CUSTOMS TARIFF

Evening Post, Issue 122, 26 May 1933, Page 6

CUSTOMS TARIFF

PROPOSED ADJUSTMENT

A notice' appearing in the Gazette over the name of the Minister of Customs (the Bt. Hoh."J. G. Coates) states that it is probable that the Customs tariff will be, levised during the next session of Parliament as a result of the report of - the .Customs Tariff Commission: which'■ ; has just been appointed. Attention is drawn to the following provisions of section 130 of the Customs Act, 1913 (as amended by, the Customs Amendment Act, 1921): — (1) If, after any agreement is made (whether in New Zealand or elsewhere) for the sale of goods, any alteration takes place in.the law relating to the liability of such goods to duty or in the rate or amount of such duty, then, in the absence of express written provision to the contrary, the agreement shall be deemed to be- modified as folj ows; —(a) In the event of the. alteration being a new or increased duty, the seller, after payment thereof, may add to the agreed price the difference caused by the alteration; (b) in the event of the alteration, being the reduction of duty, the purchaser may deduct from the agreed price the difference be-' tween the amount of duty which the seller would have paid had the alteration not been made and ,the amount of duty actually paid by him; (c) in the event of the alteration being the abolition of the duty, the purchaser may deduct from the agreed price the duty which the seller would have paid had the alteration not been made. (2) When any such alteration of duties takes place so as to operate retrospectively from. any. date this section shall also apply retrospectively in like manner as from the samo date. (3) Any money paid by a buyer to a seller in excess of the amount payable under this section may be recovered from, the seller as nioney paid by mistake,, whether, the error was one of' fact or law. 1 " (4) All the provisions of this section with icspcct to an c alteration of the law shall extend and apply, to -any alteration of the tariff by authority of the Governor-General in Council or by any other lawful authority.