HC Deb 25 November 1968 vol 774 cc55-6W
Mr. Pavitt

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a list of drugs which are exempt from import duty, his estimate of the revenue which would accrue as a result of reimposing duty, and his estimate of revenue from those drugs which still attract duty.

Mr. Dell

A full reply, and in particular the estimates requested, could not be provided without disproportionate expense, but I hope the following information will be helpful.

Under the permanent tariff, most drugs may be imported free of duty from countries in the Commonwealth Preference Area and E.F.T.A. Various forms of insulin may be imported free of duty from any source.

In addition, some 2,500 chemicals listed on pages 407–426, under Chapters and the first three quarters of 1968, each quarter separately, to countries which did not devalue in part, in full, or more than the United Kingdom in 1967.

Mr. Dell

The following countries devalued in 1967 in relation to the United States dollar:

  1. (a) By less than the United Kingdom: Macao; Hong Kong; Denmark and Faroe Islands; Fiji.
  2. (b) By the same as the United Kingdom: Barbados; Bermuda; British Honduras; Cyprus; Falkland Islands; Gambia; Gibraltar; Irish Republic; Israel; Jamaica, Cayman Islands; Turks and Caicos Islands; Leeward Islands excluding British Virgin Islands; Malawi; Malta; Mauritius, Seychelles; Muscat and Oman; St. Helena; Sierra Leone; South Yemen People's Republic (formerly Aden); Spain, Canary Islands, and Spanish Possessions; Trinidad and Tobago; Windward Islands.
  3. (c) By more than the United Kingdom: New Zealand, Cook Islands and Niue Ceylon and Maldive Islands; Guyana; Finland; Iceland Nepal; Ghana.

29 and 30 of H.M. Customs and Excise Tariff are temporarily exempt from import duty. Many of these are drugs, including most of the chemicals listed against tariff headings 29.36 (sulphonamides), 29.39 (hormones), 29.42 (vegetable alkaloids), 29.44 (antibiotics and 30.03(B) (medicaments).

The revenue which accrued in 1967 from the goods classifiable under the five tariff headings mentioned above totalled £456,311.

If the hon. Member requires any specific information about particular products and will let me have details, I will see whether it is available.