Origin Of Prawns

EDM number 1495 in 1994-95, proposed by Austin Mitchell on 23/10/1995.

That this House deplores the authoritarian insensitivity of HM Customs and Excise in trying to levy duty retrospectively on prawns imported from Iceland and the Faroe Islands on the basis of EURI certificates issued in the exporting country, which are naturally accepted by importers in this country who have no means of checking the actual origins since prawns carry no documentation of origin; considers it unreasonable to levy duty on all prawns imported for the period at issue as if none came from the exporting country and to do so without HM Customs producing any proof of origin or other means of identifying the national origin of the prawns at issue; considers this prawn issue would be ludicrous if it did not also threaten the existence of several small importers faced with heavy demands for retrospective duty; suggests that Customs should abandon its unreasonable and unjustified retrospective attempt to drive these firms into bankruptcy; and invites HM Customs to publish in the Official Report its evidence on the national origin of each consignment of prawns from these two countries in the period concerned, together with a full explanation of its incomprehensible behaviour.

This motion has been signed by a total of 32 MPs.