§ Mr. Warrenasked the Minister for Trade what is the level of import duty on electronic components required for home produced products; what is the corresponding rate if they are imported in fully assembled form; and what are the reasons for the difference.
§ Mr. Peter ReesThe Customs duties on representative examples of electronic components and finished products are as follows:
Rate of duty Per cent. (a) Components Fixed capacitors, other than electrolytic 6.2 Other capacitors 7.0 Resistors 7.0 Printed circuit boards 8.6 Diodes, transistors and similar semi-conductor devices; light emitting diodes; electronic microcircuits 17.0 (b) Finished products Radio and television receivers, whether or not incorporating sound recorders or reproducers 14.0 Combined sound receivers and reproducers 7.9 Television image and sound recorders or reproducers 8.0 Automatic data processing machines 6.2 In successive rounds of trade negotiations in the GATT, the Community has retained the level of protection on electronic microcircuits, etc., in the interests of Community producers. However, the 17 per cent. duty has been temporarily suspended or reduced on a number of products of interest to Community users where it has been 190W shown that equivalent goods are not available in, sufficient quantity from Community sources to meet the demands of users.