S.I. No. 142/1961 - Imposition of Duties (No. 110) (Towels and Towelling) Order, 1961.

The Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by section 1 of the Imposition of Duties Act, 1957 (No. 7 of 1957), hereby order as follows:

1. This Order may be cited as the Imposition of Duties (No. 110) (Towels and Towelling) Order, 1961.

2. A duty of customs at the rate of an amount equal to fifty per cent. of the value of the article shall, as respects articles imported on or after the 21st day of July, 196I, be charged, levied and paid on every article which is imported on or after the 21st day of July, 1961, is not otherwise liable to duty, is less than thirty centimetres in width, contains not more than sixty per cent. by weight of cotton and is either a towel or towelling.

3. Whenever the Minister for Finance, after consultation with the Minister for Industry and Commerce, so thinks proper, the Revenue Commissioners may by licence authorise any particular person, subject to compliance with such conditions as they may think fit to impose, to import without payment of the duty imposed by this Order any articles chargeable with such duty or, in the case of any such articles already imported, to take delivery thereof without payment of such duty either, as the Revenue Commissioners shall think proper, without limit as to time or quantity or either of them, or within a specified time or in a specified quantity, but so that no such licence shall be exempt from the provisions of section 15 of the Finance (Agreement with United Kingdom) Act, 1938 (No. 12 of 1938).

4. The following statutory provisions shall apply and have effect in the manner hereinafter mentioned, that is to say:

(a) the provisions of section 6 of the Finance (Agreement with United Kingdom) Act, 1938 (No. 12 of 1938), shall apply and have effect, in relation to the duty imposed by this Order as if the articles chargeable with that duty were mentioned in the second column of the First Schedule to the said Act and this Order were mentioned in the third column of the said Schedule opposite the mention of the said articles in the said second column, and the rate of an amount equal to thirty-three and one-third per cent. of the value of the article were specified in the fourth column of the said Schedule opposite the mention of the said articles in the said second column;

(b) the provisions of section 16 of the said Act and the regulations made under that section shall apply and have effect for the purpose of the said section 6 as applied by this paragraph.

5. The duty of customs imposed by the Emergency Imposition of Duties (No. 242) Order, 1949 ( S.I. No. 194 of 1949 ), shall, as respects articles imported on or after the 21st day of July, 1961, be varied by the substitution of " thirty centimetres " for " twelve inches " in subparagraph (e) of paragraph 5.

6. The duty of customs imposed by the Emergency Imposition of Duties (No. 340} ( Woven Artificial Textile and Union Fabrics) Order, 1954 (S.I. 228 of 1954), shall, as respects articles imported on or after the 21st day of July, 1961, be varied by the substitution of " thirty centimetres " for " twelve inches " in paragraph 4.

7. The duty imposed by this Order is hereby placed under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Government, this 14th day of July, 1961.

SEÁN F. LEMASS,

Taoiseach.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

This Order imposes a Customs duty of 50% (full) 33¾% (U.K. and Canada), ad valorem, on towels and towelling which are less than 30 centimetres in width and which are not otherwise subject to Customs duty or import restriction under the Control of Imports Acts. The Order also amends the Customs duties on certain woven linen piece goods and on certain other woven fabrics to reduce from 12 inches to 30 centimetres the width below which these duties will not be chargeable on the materials concerned.