§ 8. Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the President of the Board of Trade why import duty and the temporary surchage on imports are not charged in respect of imported catalogues mailed direct from overseas by a foreign firm to individual addressees in the United Kingdom to the order of a United Kingdom firm.
§ Mr. MasonImport duties have never been charged on single copies of trade catalogues and similar publications sent by post to individual addressees, primarily because the cost and difficulty of collecting the negligible amounts of duty payable on each package would be prohibitive.
§ Mr. JenkinWill the hon. Gentleman look at this question again? Is he aware that the import of catalogues, gift coupons and such things is now reaching substation proportions, and that British printers have to pay duty on imported paper, and that this therefore represents increasingly unfair competition against the British printing industry?
§ Mr. MasonWe are always prepared to consider representations from representative bodies on this matter, but it seems a lot to ask that every individual catalogue should be checked. It would be uneconomical.