NOTE I. TO CHAPTER X.

ON SOME DIFFICULTIES CONNECTED WITH CHANGES IN
THE RATE OF DUTY.

IN 14 of the foregoing chapter reference was made to the difficulty which arose in deciding at what rate dutiable goods should be rated on clearance from warehouse, should the rate of duty have changed. Analogous to this is the problem of how to rate goods, the passage of which through the customs is incomplete at a time the rates are changed. This, it will be noted, is a different problem to the constitutional one of deciding whether it is desirable to rate goods before the legal changes associated with an alteration of customs duty are complete-whether, in other works, a higher rate is to be levied by mere resolution of the legislature. What we are dealing with are the effects of changes in the rate, whatever the sanction, on warehoused goods, or on goods in process of clearance.

At the same time another point requires examinationi.e., the treatment of re-imported goods: ought these to pay duty, or ought they to be free?

(1) Warehoused Goods and Goods in process of Importation.

In the case of the United Kingdom we have to consider the effect of the following legal dispositions:

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(a) Customs Consolidation Act, § 19. 'All goods deposited in any warehouse or place of security under any Act for the warehousing of goods without payment of duty upon the first warehousing, or which may be imported, and on board ship, shall, upon being entered for home consumption, be subject to such and the like duties as may at the time of passing such entry be due and payable on the like sort of goods under any Customs Act at the time of passing such entry, save and except in cases where special provision shall be made by such Act to the contrary."

(b) Finance Act, 1900, 63 and 64 Vict., c. 7, § 9. "The duty to be paid on goods or commodities deposited in a customs or excise warehouse is hereby declared to be the duty chargeable at the date of the actual removal of those goods or commodities from the warehouse, and if before that date any sums shall have been paid in respect of duty, the difference (if any) between the sums so paid and the actual duty chargeable shall be paid or repaid, as the case may be."

This gives us four cases—

(i) Change between date of warehousing and date of entry for home consumption, duty leviable at the rates in force. on time of entry.

(ii) Change of duty between date of entry for home consumption and "actual removal of those goods or commodities. from the warehouse," duty in force on date of actual removal.

(iii) In the case of imported goods the date of entry fixes the rate of duty payable, whether there has been a change in the rate between the date of import and the date of entry, or a change of duty between the date of entry and the date of clearance or not.

(For definition of date of importation, see § 40 of the C.C.A., and its amendment by the Finance Act, 1901, §7 (2) in Highmore, p. 45.)

In India, by § 115 of the Sea Customs Act, "If, after any goods entered for warehousing have been assessed under §87 and alteration is made in the duty leviable upon such goods, or in the tariff valuation (if any) applicable thereto, such goods shall be re-assessed in accordance with (such alteration)."

In South Africa, § 66 of the Customs Management Act, "warehoused goods shall, after being entered for home consumption, be subject and liable to such and the like duties as may at the time of passing such entry be due and payable upon goods of the like kind under any law in force when such entry was passed."

In France, warehoused goods cleared for consumption are dutiable at the rates in force at the time of clearance, except in the case of colonial products originating from a country which at the moment of entry for warehousing enjoyed the French minimum tariff. Goods under these conditions continue to enjoy the lower rate, even, if at the time of entry

for consumption, the country from which they originate should have lost the benefit of the lower rates. But the lower rates then granted are those of the minimum tariff at the time of clearance, and not the rates of the time of entry for warehousing.1

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(2) Re-Importation of Goods.

United Kingdom.-The regulations contained in C.C.A, § 63, were repealed by 42 and 43 Vict., c. 21, § 6. As things now stand, goods are to be treated as foreign if liable to customs duty, and subject to the same regulations as foreign goods, unless re-imported within five years and proven to be British goods, provided that any drawback goods shall be treated as foreign unless specially exempted by the Commissioner of Customs, and on payment of such drawbacks : all foreign goods re-imported, whether duty paid or not, are to be treated as if imported for the first time trade marked re-imported British goods may be re-admitted on proof that they are British by consent of proprietor or on proof, to the satisfaction of the customs authorities, that they are British.

For plain British spirits re-imported, see § 59 of the Spirits Act, 1880 (43 and 44 Vict., c. 24).

Commonwealth of Australia.-§ 151 of the Customs Act, and item 446 of the C.T., 1908-11. § III of the regulations under the Customs Act, Stat. Rules, 1913, No. 346.

Goods other than Samples of Duty Paid Goods.-Goods must be brought back within two years from date of exportation: drawback of excise duty must not have been paid: the character of the goods must in no way have been changed: the collector must be satisfied that the goods are the same by reference to the export entry or by statutory declaration : if free entry is claimed, proof must be given that customs duty has once been paid: finally, "the minister must be satisfied that the re-importation or bringing of the goods will not unfairly disturb the market for similar goods in Australia generally or in the place where the goods are proposed to be landed."

1 Pallain, op. cit., vol. i., p. 522, note 1.

The articles dutiable under the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1915, are exempted, subject to the conditions set out in § 13 of that Act.

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United States.-Customs regulations, Art. No. 234 T.A., 1913, § 1, paras. 404 and 642.

Art. 234. Dutiable merchandise imported and afterwards exported, although it may have paid duty on the first importation, is liable to duty on every subsequent importation into the United States; but this does not apply to wearing apparel, personal and household effects taken abroad and brought back by a returning resident of the United States. Neither does it apply to iron or steel drums of domestic or foreign manufacture used for the shipment of acids or other chemicals which shall have been exported from the United States, nor to articles exported from the United States for repairs, which may be returned upon payment of a duty upon the value of the repairs at the rate at which the article itself would be subject if imported.

Tariff Act of 1913.—

No. 404 of the Free List-" Articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture of the United States, when returned after having been exported, without having been advanced in value or improved in condition by any process of manufacture or other means . . ." (the other section of the paragraph refers to containers and articles exported for repairs not falling under this head).

Notes.-1. This paragraph shall not apply to any article upon which an allowance of drawback has been made, the re-importation of which is hereby prohibited except upon payment of duties equal to the drawbacks allowed; or to any article manufactured in bonded warehouses and exported under any provision of law.

Switzerland.-Customs Law, Art. 3, sub-sec. (p) (freed from import duty).

"Goods and cattle of Swiss origin which return to Switzerland within the period of time laid down in the regulations in consequence of their being refused by the consignee, or in consequence of impossibility of sale abroad.

"The customs department is further empowered to exempt from customs duty in other than the above-mentioned cases, goods of Swiss origin, which return to the consignor within a period of time to be determined by the administration, if the Swiss origin of the goods and their export is appropriately proven."

Cf. Art. 151 of the V.V.Z. which adds to the cases enumerated

that of foreign goods which have been exported from the Swiss customs area, and on whose account customs duty has therefore been paid.

To obtain free re-import a special entry has to be made, accompanied by a notarial or official proof of the local or customs authorities as to the origin, destination, and date of dispatch of the goods, based upon the inspection of the commercial books and the correspondence relating to the shipment.

Appeal may be made in these cases in which free re-entry having been refused the goods have paid duty.

In the cases of special exemption the period is limited to two years, and the decision left to the Federal Authorities.

Article 152 covers the case of goods which have paid duty on import, but which, in consequence of refusal to accept them on the part of the addresse or on other grounds, are reexported abroad.

The duty is repayable under the following conditions:The returning package must correspond in nature and weight with the imported, must be consigned to the original consignor, which must be confirmed to the exporting bureau by the production of the original bill of lading in order to facilitate comparison with the export bill of lading.

2. The export bill of lading must be made out by the Swiss consignor direct to the address of the recipient.

3. The export must take place within two months, reckoned from the date of import.

4. The demand for repayment of the import duty is to be handed in at the time of export, accompanied by a statement of the grounds of refusal at the exporting bureau, which is to send them on to the Gebiets-direktion with a report as to the state of the goods on survey. (Revisionsbefund.) The latter office will then decide the matter itself, or, if it is not competent to do so, will forward the documents to the Oberzolldirektion.

In Germany, § 113 of the Federal Customs Law lays it down that "products of the Federal Area, which apart from fair and market traffic, have been sent abroad on order, for / inspection, to public exhibitions, on consignment or for temporary use, and which return from thence, may be exempted from duty, in so far as no doubt exists that the same goods are being imported as were exported."