TNAG-0134-FCO40-170-Tariff-preferences-for-developing-countries-1969 — Page 34

/16

Japan make in this sector;

if they are minimal, and the ERC

withdraw part of their offers, we shall be justifica in doing

likewise.

Similarly on iron and steel, on which our original

offer is conditional and has one exception, we shall have to

see whether the USA and Japan will, like the EEC, offer profer-

ences. If Spain is excluded from the scheme, much of our

problem in this sector will disappear

25. The administration of duty quotas

No duty quotas exist in the U.K's rogine of protective devices for domestic or Commonwealth interest. If duty quotas

were adopted they could either be allocated in advance to importers by a form of licensing (as in the case of existing import quotas), or operated on a cut-off basis by reimposing

the full rate of duty for the remainder of the current year

as soon as imports reached the level of the quotas. The former

method would enable traders to know what duty would be payable

and would ensure that the quota was not exceeded. It would

however, be expensive to administer, add to the clerical burden

on importers and raise all the usual problems of allocating ·

licences. The latter method would therefore be preferable,

assuming a substantial number of quotas to be involved, although

it would create some uncertainty for importers and there would

be, no doubt, disputes.`about consignments that arrived very close

to the deadline. Some method of statistical watch would be

needed to get as early a notification as possible that imports

had reached the quota ceiling. The most straight-forward way

of using the existing statistical arrangements for this purpose

would be to prepare a special computer programme that woud

provide separate import figures for the goods and countries

/concerned