XN000022-1972-08-16 — Page 22

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DUNIABLE COMMODITIES BILL

Wednesday, August 16, 1972

The object of the Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Bill is to put beyond

doubt that toilet preparations containing over 1.2 per cent of ethyl alcohol by

volume are dutiable.

The Director of Commerce and Industry, the Hon. Jack Cater, said this

today when he moved the second reading of the Bill in the Legislative Council.

Duty was not payable on denatured spirits so certified by the Government

Chemist. But in 1970, the principal ordinance was amended in the definition of

"denatured spirits" to allow, without payment of duty, the import of mixtures of

ethyl alcohol for industrial use, provided such mixtures could not readily be

converted into an intoxicating liquor.

"Some doubt has arisen as to whether this amendment might in some cases

have gone further than was intended in relation to toilet preparations," he said.

Clause 2 of this Bill would remove all doubt by specifically excluding

toilet preparations from the definition of "denatured spirits", he added.

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