The purpose of this Bill is to secure amendments of the Control of Imports Acts which will provide greater flexibility in a situation arising from the gradual reduction of protective tariffs and the substitution of tariffs for import quotas. The process of reduction of protection is designed to provide a spur to greater efficiency and competitiveness in industry and to prepare us to take our part in a system of freer trade towards which there is an international movement.
There must, however, be adequate safeguards during this period of transition against the dislocation or deflection of trade and consequent loss of employment, which could result from uncontrolled imports of goods with which our manufacturers cannot reasonably be expected to compete. Indeed, the absence of such safeguards could militate against the speedy re-adaptation of industry to meet the conditions of freer trade, because manufacturers might be slow to rationalise their production if, by concentrating on certain lines, they were to increase their vulnerability to "low-cost" imports.
Nothing in the Bill is designed to limit fair competition. To do so would be contrary to the spirit of the reduction of protection. The alterations in the procedure are sought only for the purpose of enabling ceilings to be imposed on imports in those cases where external costs of production are so abnormally low by our standards or by normal international standards that our manufacturers could not reasonably be expected to compete with them within existing levels of tariff protection.
The Bill provides that the Government may place a limit on the import of certain goods without the necessity for an apportionment among importers. This will enable open general licensing to operate within the overall limit and traders will not have to seek licences to import the goods. Once the ceiling has been reached, however, the Revenue Commissioners will not admit further goods until a new Order has been made. Senators will not expect me, because of risks of forestalling, to say what commodities are immediately in mind in this connection.
Where quota protected goods are concerned, it is also necessary that the same power to impose ceilings in similar circumstances should exist. This is necessary not merely to facilitate the re-adaptation of industries now protected by quota, but also to assist in the transition from quota protection to tariff protection. Under the existing control of imports legislation, there cannot be two quotas on the one category of goods. This Bill provides for the removal of that limitation, so that a ceiling may be applied to imports from low-cost countries of particular goods already subject to an existing quota Order. Where this is done there would, in effect, be a quota within a quota. Both quotas would, however, be divided among importers as at present, and licences would continue to be necessary.
I recommend the Bill to the House. As I said at the beginning, its purpose is to tailor the Control of Imports Acts to the needs of a changing situation.
