OFFICIAL REPORT

Southland Times, Issue 21834, 11 October 1932, Page 8

OFFICIAL REPORT

OTTAWA CONFERENCE PROMOTION OF EMPIRE TRADE RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED The official report of the delegation from New Zealand to the Imperial Economic Conference at Ottawa was presented to Parliament on Friday, together with a summary of the resolutions and statements that were adopted for the promotion of trade within the British Commonwealth. The following resolutions and statements regarding the promotion of trade within the commonwealth were adopted:— , . . With regard to the determination of the percentage of Empire content necessary to secure preferential tariff treatment, the conference draws the attention of the several Governments of the commonwealth to the importance of this subject, and recommends that each of the Governments of the commonwealth should investigate, as rapidly as possible, the standard of Empire content which should be required by them for the import under preferential rates of the different classes of goods, bearing in mind the following principles:— (a) That though it must rest with each Government to decide what standard it will require, a greater degree of uniformity throughout the commonwealth is desirable; (b) The standard required should not be such as to defeat or frustrate the intention of the preferential rate of duty' conceded to any class of goods. With regard to the question of export bounties and anti-dumping duties within the commonwealth, the conference adopted the following resolution: This conference, recognizing that export bounties and exchange depreciation adversely affect the value of tariff preferences within the commonwealth, expresses the hope that with a rise in the level of commodity prices and with stabilized exchanges such bounties and the special duties which have been adopted as a means of adjusting the situation so created may be withdrawn. With regard to the conclusion of certain agreements for the extension of mutual trade by means of reciprocal preferential tariffs, the conference adopted the following resolution: The nations of the British Commonwealth having entered into certain agreements with one another for the extension of mutual trade by means of reciprocal preferential tariffs, this conference takes note of these agreements and records its conviction: That by the lowering or removal of barriers among themselves provided for in these agreements the flow of trade between the various countries of the Empire will be facilitated, and that .by the consequent increase of purchasing power of their peoples the trade of the world will also be stimulated and increased; Further, that this conference regards the conclusion of these agreements as a step forward which should in the future lead to further progress in the same direction and which will utilise protective duties to ensure that the resources and industries of the Empire are developed on sound economic lines.

Customs Administration. The conference recommends that the aims to be kept in view should be: (i) The avoidance of uncertainty as to the amount of duty which would be payable on the arrival of goods in the importing country; (ii) The reduction of friction and delay to a minimum; (iii) The provision of facilities for the expeditious and effective settlement of disputes relating to all matters affecting the application of the Customs tariff; and that any measures which Customs administrations might take to safeguard themselves against evasion should be consistent with these principles. Trade With Foreign Countries. The conference considered two broad groups of questions affecting the commercial relations of the several members of the commonwealth with foreign countries. In the first place, the conference discussed the general question of the relationship between' intra-common-wealth preferences and the most-fav-oured-nation clause in commercial treaties with foreign Powers. Each Government will determine its particular policy in dealing with this matter, but the representatives of the various Governments on the committee stated that it was their policy that no treaty obligations into which they might enter in the future should be allowed to interfere with any mutual preferences which Governments of the commonwealth might decide to accord to each other, and that they would free themselves from existing treaties, if any, which might so interfere. They would, in fact, take all the steps necessary to implement and safeguard whatever preferences might be so granted. In the second place, attention was drawn to recent tendencies in foreign countries <to conclude regional agreements between themselves for the mutual accord of preferences which were designed as being exclusive, and not to be extended to countries which were not parties to, or did not adhere to, the agreements. On this point, there was a general agreement that foreign countries which had existing treaty obligations to grant most-favoured-nation treatment to the products of particular parts of the commonwealth could not be allowed to over-ride such obligations by regional agreements of the character in question. Particular reference was made in this connection to the question of the Danubian States in regard to which preferential treatment was in contemplation for the cereal exports of the States concerned —exports which constitute a substantia] proportion of the world’s exports of the cereals in question. The conference were, however, informed that if the discussion which took place at Lausanne on the matter, the rights of third countries had, at the instance of the United Kingdom, been expressly reserved. “The conference recognized that the fact that rights are accorded by most-favoured-nation treatment does not preclude a foreign country from seeking the consent of the various Governments of the British Commonwealth to the waiver of their rights in particular cases, and that these Governments must be guided by consideration of their individual interests in deciding whether or not to meet the wishes of the foreign country concerned, so long, however, as the general principle that rights of this kind cannot be arbitrarily withdrawn is fully and carefully preserved.

The conference would, however, recommend that where two or more Commonwealth Governments share a common interest in any proposal for the waiver of particular treaty rights, they should consult together with a view to arriving in so far as possible, at a common policy.