§ 10.13 p.m.
§ The Minister of State, Board of Trade (Mr. Alan Green)I beg to move,
That the Import Duties (General) (No. 2) Order, 1963, dated 26th March, 1963, a copy of which was laid before this House on 29th March, be approved.The two changes in import duties now before the House are, in one sense, complicated, and I hope that I shall be able to explain them in understandable terms. They have one common feature in that they concern items subject to both revenue and protective duties. Due to what might well be described as an anomaly in our tariff structure, the duties are expressed in terms which allow the protective duty to be changed quite fortuitously by changes in the revenue duty. We propose to correct the anomalous situation in both cases.This is the whole purpose of the Order. We seek to stabilise the protective element 1034 and cease to have it attracted into the Excise element. We have no other purpose in this. The level at which the stabilisation will take place on both these substances is the lowest duty we consider it proper to apply to these chemicals.
§ Question put and agreed to.