§ Mr. TynanTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 4 May 2004,Official Report , column 1484W, what proportion of trade recorded under these codings has been assessed to be (a) miscoding and (b) illegal importation; and how many prosecutions have resulted. [185674]
§ John HealeyHM Customs and Excise have examined the trade records for code 43031010 since 1 January 2003 and have found that all transactions have arisen as a result of miscoding. A similar analysis in respect of imports and exports in previous years would require examination of the records of the transaction held by the importer or exporter and could be undertaken only at disproportionate cost.
Customs have no information or record of any illegal importation and their assessment is that the low values of trade recorded in the period since 1998 have arisen from either:
- further examples of miscoding, or
- legitimate imports or exports involving either adult seal skins, non commercial trade or trade in goods that have resulted from traditional hunting by the Inuit people.
No trade has been recorded against codes 43017010, 43021941 or 43023051 since 1998.
There have been no prosecutions since 1998 in respect of breaches of the prohibition established by the Import of Seal Skins Regulations 1996.