3. Time of Importation.-A very full definition is given in the U.K. C.C.A., § 40 "Such time shall be deemed to be the time at which the ship importing such goods actually came within the limits of the port at which such ship shall in one course be reported and such goods be discharged;" but, by the Finance Act of 1901 (1 Edw. VII., c. 7), § 7 (2)—“ As respects the first levying or repealing of any duty of customs (including any duty imposed by this Act), the time at which the importation of any goods shall be deemed to have had effect shall be the time at which the entry of the goods under the Customs Act is delivered instead of the time mentioned in § 40 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876." In the U.S.A. date of importation is defined (Customs Regulations, Art. 222: T.D. 26,219) in much the same way "The date of importation is the date of arrival of the vessel at a port with intent to unload. In case the importing vessel enters two or more United States ports. the date of importation will be the date of arrival of the vessel at the port at which the merchandise is landed . . .' 4. Imported Merchandise.—“ Every commodity having a value brought within the limits of the United States is imported merchandise within the meaning of the customs law." 1 5. Country and Principal Markets." The term 'country as used in the law, is to be regarded as embracing all the possessions of a nation however widely separated, which are subject to the same supreme executive and legislative authority and control, "Merchandise imported from one country, being the growth, production, or manufacture of another country, will be appraised at its actual value in the principal markets of the country from which immediately imported. If it appears from the invoice, bill of lading, or other evidence that the merchandise was destined for the United States at the time of original shipment it will be appraised at its value in the principal markets of the country from which originally exported." 6. Time of Exportation." For the purpose of ascertaining 166 Digest of Decisions, etc.," vol. ii., p. 1661. * Arts. 576-577 of U.S. Customs Regs. based on a series of Treasury Decisions. 1 Op. cit., Art. 578. the market value the appraiser shall consider the date on which merchandise actually leaves the country of exportation to the United States as the date of exportation, which date may be established by the date of sailing of the vessel from the foreign port as declared to by the master on entry or by a bill of lading showing the date of shipment certified by the American Consular officer. "Merchandise shipped from an interior country, intended for exportation through the ports of another country to the United States is exported within the meaning of the law when it begins its journey to the United States from the interior place of shipment, and the time of exportation may be established by the date of the bill of lading, certified before an American Consular officer and noted on the certificate attached to the invoice, such consular certification to be accepted in the absence of conclusive evidence to the contrary." NOTE III. TO CHAPTER IX. PAYMENT OF CUSTOMS DUTIES. THERE are several ways in which the general right of the Government of a country to determine the mode in which, and the time at which, taxes are to be liquidated affects the tariff position. By the regulations drawn up in these respects the severity of the rates established may be very considerably increased. This is especially the case with regard to the mode of payment-i.e., the determination of the particular species of money in which the debt owing to the Government must be met. There is no difficulty so long as the Government maintains effective parity between various species of coin-e.g., between gold and silver or gold and paper. In either case the liquidation of customs duties in one only of these forms of money will not affect their incidence, although it may somewhat affect the convenience of the payee. For if there is effective parity or equivalence of value it should be possible normally to convert one species of money into another, and thus liquidate the debt in the particular form demanded-normally, because, if the Government, by heavy penalties, forbids the desired species to be bought at a premium, and this prohibition is effective through fear of consequences, there is no guarantee that the desired species will be forthcoming, and, as a consequence, the position is very different, amounting in extreme cases to a virtual prohibition of import. This is, however, only a special case of the general principle to which we now desire to draw attention-viz., that the emergence of a discount or a premium on the particular species of coin or money in which customs duties are by law payable will reduce or add to the height of the duty wall. Let us first of all look at the situation from the standpoint of principle. Suppose a country in which gold is at a premium of 20 per cent. as compared with paper money, so that 100 gold units will purchase as much as 120 paper units of money. If the duties to be liquidated amount to 500 money units, W it will make a great difference to the importer whether these money units are paper money or gold money units. Suppose they are gold. In that case to get the gold he will have to part with 120 paper units to buy 100 gold units, and to buy 120 X 500 100 500 gold units he will have to give It follows that countries which have silver or paper currencies nominally worth so much gold, but actually below their nominal gold values can increase the burden of customs duties by the simple expedient of requiring that the customs duties shall henceforth be payable in gold-a fact which has largely been made use of.1 1 This device of demanding part or whole payment of customs 1 Cf. explanatory note to the official translation of the Spanish tariff of 1906 states that: (2) In accordance with the law dated the 20th March last, promulgating the bases on which the revision of the former tariff was to proceed, it was enacted that all duties are to be levied in gold instead of in silver as hitherto. This provision is, of course, by itself equivalent to an increase in the tariff rates (Cd. 3066 of 1906). As for later legislation : "For the application of the law of December 24, 1912, to take effect on January 15, 1913, it has been decided that in payment of the customs duties in gold the following shall from that date be accepted for their full value : "Spanish gold coins; gold coins of countries of the Latin-union, of the United Kingdom and Germany; Bank of France or Bank of England notes. Drafts or cheques on Paris, London, or Berlin, provided they be payable respectively in francs, pounds sterling, or marks, and be duly guaranteed. Until further notice, and owing to the present monetary depreciation in relation to the par equivalent of gold at Brussels, the acceptance of drafts and cheques on that city is suspended. Payments amounting to less than 10 pesetas, and amounts on goods verbally declared by passengers may continue as heretofore to be settled in silver money with a surtax equal to the average price of the franc during the month preceding month of payment." Cf. position in China. is drawn up on the basis of the Haikwan tael, reckoned as equal to 2s. 5/16d. Rule I. appended to the tariff states that "imports unenumerated in this tariff will pay duty at the rate of 5 per cent. ad valorem, and the value upon which duty is to be calculated shall be the market value of the goods in local currency. This market value when converted into Haik wan taels shall be considered to be 12 per cent. higher than the amount upon which duty is to be calculated." This reduction has reference to the question of whether duty has been included in price or not, since in the case of c.i.f. contracts without duty there is no reduction; the point for us is the con duties in the form of currency appreciated or depreciated in relation to other forms makes the calculation of customs duties at times an exceedingly complicated matter. To show the degree of complexity which may be attained, the case of Brazil will be examined at some length. Our standpoint will be found somewhat different to that of the American report in which the material facts can be most easily found.1 66 The currency of Brazil is paper, which the Brazilian authorities assess in terms of foreign (gold) currency at the fixed rate of one paper milreis to twelve pence. The gold milreis is worth at par 27 pence. Of the total debt owing to the customs, a given percentage must be liquidated by purchasing, not gold, but gold drafts or "vales" at the Banco de Brésil, the price of the vale being fixed by the bank each week in accordance with the average exchange rate of the paper milreis for the preceding week." Up to 1905 the regulations fixed the proportion payable in gold at 35 per cent. of the total duty in that year the proportion was raised to 50 per cent. unless for 30 consecutive days the rate of exchange for paper milreis was less than 15d. (later 16d.). In 1914 the fall of exchange rates led to a return to the old proportion. of 35 per cent., and, in 1916, this was again changed to 40 per cent.2 What we have now to do is to follow out the working of these regulations in detail. (A) When the real exchange value of the paper milreis is greater than 12d.-e.g., when it is worth, say, 16 pence in reality, the fixed rate of exchange increases the burden of the duty; when the real value of the milreis is less than 12d., say, 8 pence, then the fixed rate of conversion reduces the burden of the duty. version into a given currency, which may raise or lower the duty according to the value of the local currency. As to general regulations as to mode of payment, cf. the following:-United Kingdom, Customs Consolidation Act. § 17, "All duties, rates, charges, and drawbacks shall be paid and received in every part of the United Kingdom in British currency." In Germany, in so far as exceptions have not been made for import certificates, duties are payable in German imperial currency according to the specifications of the mint law. (Trautvetter, op. cit., p. 209.) For some details as to Italy, see Fontana-Russo, op. cit., § 110, especially pp. 511-12. Other countries which have maintained the obligation to pay in gold at a time of depreciation of the currency are Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the United States during the Civil War period. 1 T.S., No 34, pp. 116-19. * These figures and the context must now be regarded as purely illustrative; for the latest information as to Brazil see Note IV. to this chapter. |