Mr. A. J. Williamsasked the President of the Board of Trade what changes he proposes in the rules relating to duty remission on machinery and on instruments and apparatus.
§ Mr. JayYes. The cost of operating the duty remission schemes for machinery and for instruments and apparatus has been increasing fast because of the growing volume of applications. In the case of machinery, I therefore propose, with the agreement of the Consultative Committee on the Duty-free Entry of Machinery, to increase to £3,000 the minimum value limit of £2,000, which was recommended by the Wilson Smith Committee in 1954 as a means of reducing 155W the administrative burden of duty remission. This increase will go some way towards restoring the original effect of the limit, which has been weakened by changes in duty rates and the fall in the value of money. I propose similarly to increase from £20 to £30 the limit of duty liability below which applications for duty remission on instruments and apparatus are not eligible. The changes will affect applications relating to all users' orders placed after today.