ECA submission to proposal to recover costs for low value imports—2018 submission
The ECA has three main concerns about the introduction of cost recovery for trade and cargo activities on low value imports:
(1) the flat fee structure proposed in the discussion paper would substantially distort the Australian market for low cost goods. Under a flat fee, the lower the cost of an import, the higher the fee would be as a proportion of its value. The higher the fee as a proportion of a good’s value the more the demand for that good is suppressed.
(2) self-assessed clearances (SACs) and the proposed fee collection model has the potential to place a much higher burden on entities lodging between 1,001 and 10,000 SACs per year, relative to those lodging more. This would damage the commercial viability of these entities and hurt competition in the import supply chain.
(3) the policy would be seen internationally as a protectionist measure, particularly coming so soon after extending the GST to low value imports. By substantially increasing its charges on low value imports, the Australian Government would make it more difficult to achieve further ecommerce trade liberalisation, and potentially invite retaliation from trading partners.

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Eric Meppem,
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Pharmako Biotechnologies Pty Ltd
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"Pharmako Biotechnologies were already exporting when we joined the ECA. We joined to assist our export strategies, and unashamedly to promote ourselves
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Established in 1970, Mavlab Animal Health Pty Ltd is a Queensland based, family-owned, GMP licenced manufacturer of veterinary pharmaceuticals and pet care products. Mavlab has an extensive range of prescription and over the counter
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