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under the country quota system that export licences will, continue to be needed
for some, time after the beginning of 1972.
I would be grateful if we could, now agree to go ahead, with arrangements
along these lines.
thea.
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10 I should mention one possible difficulty that may arise in connection with
Some exporters, with or without the connivance of the governments of
restricted countries, may decide anyway to ship goods in excess of the quota ceilings towards the end of 1971 on the assumption that we shall accept these ultimately on payment of the necessary duty.. In this case, the only remedy, in our hands will be to refuse to issue an import licence in which case the goods, may be seized by HM Customs. This is what should happen according to the letter of the present arrangements and we believe that we should be, prepared to do it.
We recognise, however, that this will expose us to criticism, particularly if the
seizure is carried out after the end of this year when the restrictions have very little time left to run and because the penalty will probably have to be borne by the UK importer rather than the offending exporter. Seizure, is a weapon of
limited use and Customs may wish to give us their view of circumstances in which
it ought to be enforced in practice next year if there are breaches of the quota restrictions. I would feel, however, that in order to deter, exporters and importers from chancing their arm (and so running us into the import 'peak' described in para 4) we should at least make it clear to all concerned, that goods
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shipped in excess of the 1971 quotas will be liable to seizure even if they
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arrive in 1972. In particular, we should issue a special warning to our own importers to make certain that they are aware of the risks that they would be
running in accepting goods in excess of the restrictions. In fairness to them, the situation should be clarified as quickly as possiblę,
10 If you and other addressees would like to discuss these proposals I would
suggest a meeting, which I would be happy to arrange later this week.: I would-
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.