Petition the government to "Change import duty rules to encourage British manufacturing"

[Lynbarn]

Following the great news that Raspberry Pi manufacturing has started, the less good news that it is not being made in the UK, and Liz's explanation as to why this is, I have created an ePetition to the Government to encourage electronics manufacturing by changing the import duty rules. This may not make any difference, but If we can get 100,000 signatures, they will at least have to discuss it in The House!

You can sign the petition here: http://epetitions.direct.gov.u.....tions/2715

and help to publicise this by passing the link on to colleagues, family & friends, and by clicking the links to Facebook, linkedin and Twitter.

[Hugh Reynolds]

Lynbarn said:


Following the great news that Raspberry Pi manufacturing has started, the less good news that it is not being made in the UK, and Liz's explanation as to why this is, I have created an ePetition to the Government to encourage electronics manufacturing by changing the import duty rules. This may not make any difference, but If we can get 100,000 signatures, they will at least have to discuss it in The House!

You can sign the petition here: http://epetitions.direct.gov.u.....tions/2715

and help to publicise this by passing the link on to colleagues, family & friends, and by clicking the links to Facebook, linkedin and Twitter.



+1 and facebook

[mebrew]

Would it not have been more positive for you to have included in your petition, the exact reverse.

i.e. Items manufactured, complete, outside the UK to have attracted import duty. Thus making the benefit to UK manufacture greater.

[zag]

Great work!

Signed.

[Prometheus]

mebrew said:


Would it not have been more positive for you to have included in your petition, the exact reverse.

i.e. Items manufactured, complete, outside the UK to have attracted import duty. Thus making the benefit to UK manufacture greater.


Please pardon me if I'm misunderstanding your post, but I'm pretty sure that the petition is describing how it currently is.

@ Lynbarn - Great petition. I'm spreading the word as we speak.

[Lynbarn]

mebrew said:


Would it not have been more positive for you to have included in your petition, the exact reverse.

i.e. Items manufactured, complete, outside the UK to have attracted import duty. Thus making the benefit to UK manufacture greater.


The first part describes what I understand is the current situation. The key point of the petition is " HM Government is hereby petitioned to adjust the import duty rules to remove this disparity and to encourage the return of electronics manufacture and assembly jobs to Britain. " I'm not saying how they should adjust them

[Sylvain]

OK, you're doing a petition : coooool …

But, have you even searched what is the "law" Liz is speaking of ?

Is it an U.K. rule, an E.U. rule ? What is its exact content ? What does it apply to ? Exact reference …

Who can take you seriously with a petition that could begin like "someone  on Internet told me that …"

Sylvain.

[Danbert]

Signed, and shared on Twitter and Google+

Good luck!

[Lynbarn]

Sylvain said:


OK, you"re doing a petition : coooool …

But, have you even searched what is the "law" Liz is speaking of ?

Is it an U.K. rule, an E.U. rule ? What is its exact content ? What does it apply to ? Exact reference …

Who can take you seriously with a petition that could begin like "someone  on Internet told me that …"

Sylvain.


Sign, don't sign. The choice is yours.

Actually, it would be more a case of "Somebody representing a registered UK charity suggested, and I subsequently confirmed through my own research that..."

As one would expect, I did do some background research, The exact details are covered by the HMRC " Integrated Tariff of the United Kingdom " (a.k.a. The Tariff). It is largely standard across the EU, but there are some local derrogations. Okay, so maybe the UK Government is not the final arbiter here, but they probably have more chance of influencing EU policy in this regard than I - or even The Raspberry Pi Foundation - do alone!

[mightygoose]

Tweeted and i will google plus it later in a longer post.

[andyhorn]

Signed and linked to the e-petition on FaceBook and G+.

[Sylvain]

@Lynbarn >> First, I "can't" sign, I'm French.

I think Liz is quite reliable, but she is not a specialist lawyer.

A recent example (rase of the reduced rate of VAT in France) show me that even the people who should be perfectly aware of what was going on, in fact, wasn't. A compagny, I'm working with (+/- 100 employes) which makes 95% of its business at the reduced VAT rate still didn't know one week before the rase what they were (or not) allowed to do with there public prices / contracts / invoices despite they have a permanent accountant and several lawyers and consultants ... so ...

If you did background research, just tell us (and put in the text of your petition) the exact reference of what we are speaking of. e.g. : in the HMRC " Integrated Tariff of the United Kingdom " Chapter x line x it is said ...

I searched for that reference but did not find the whole text of the "Integrated Tariff of the United Kingdom" plus I'm not a native English speaker nor a lawyer so it could be hard for me to understand.

Sylvain.

[Lynbarn]

Sylvain,

You probably won't find the whole text - in hard copy, it runs to three printed volumes!

I don't know the exact details of the components used to make a Raspberry Pi, but I have spoken to staff at HMRC and Business Link, and they confirm that finished items such as the Raspberry Pi attract no import duty, whereas many of the components do if imported seperately.

The details of this are not written in any law as such, but covered by the tariff.  It doesn't really need a specialist lawyer to understand - it is more the remit of an import/export agent.

If you wish to persue this further, then I will provide a few links which may help.





http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/cha.....mport_Home
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk.....=RESOURCES
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk.....=RESOURCES
http://tariff.businesslink.gov.....e=11/01/12

Similar information is available from all EU Governments.

[PiOfCube]

It's a good idea but...

If people here are have strong thoughts on this issue, they should send their local MP a letter. I would suggest you just explain about the Raspberry Pi and the fact that due to import duties or other taxes, it has meant that yet more manufacturing is being lost to overseas companies (which probably do not have interests in the UK).

If you do that, you are promoting the Raspberry Pi and by sending a letter instead of an E-Mail or signing a petition (though I would still sign the petition but also send the letter) it is more difficult to ignore.

If you really feel strong enough to do this, visit http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/ and you can get your local MP's details from there.

Just one last point regarding letters. The worst thing you can do is copy-n-paste a standard letter and pop that in the postbox. A self-written letter can often be worth a thousand names on a petition.

Now that I've said all that... I'm going to write a letter.

[Lynbarn]

I agree entirely, PiofCube,  I've just posted my letter too! - and not just an email - with a real stamp

[Lynbarn]

Wow! Thanks Guys. This petition was only launched at 9 this morning, and it already has over 290 signatories - making it around the 540th most popular on the ePetitions site - out of over 10,000!

Keep writing to your MPs too!

[meltwater]

Signed!  What sort of cost does the Tax add anyway?

(Either way, it is backwards all the same)

[S0litaire]

you should also take a look at:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/

Find your local MP and MEP (and MSP of applicable)

Find out their voting record and what committees they are on and contact them.

[Joules]

Edited due to total cock up of my post and unable to delete..... Doh

[S0litaire]

Joules said:


Edited due to total cock up of my post and unable to delete..... Doh



lo!!! ^_^

[arm2]

I have signed the petition and wish it well.

AIUI this problem within the EU has existed for many years, I recall someone (Alan Sugar or was it Clive Sinclair?) bemoaning this problem 10 or 15 years ago.

I do presume that there must be some reasoning behind the regulation, any one know what it is?

I won't be holding my breath for a quick change though.

[Benedict White]

Signed, Tweeted, Facebooked, and Google +'sed.

[mightygoose]

there are 590 votes already, i assume most if not all are from this forums UK population, does anyone know of other enterprises and small businesses affected by this particular bit of legislation that we can link folk too....

[TheEponymousBob]

arm2 said:


I do presume that there must be some reasoning behind the regulation, any one know what it is?


I"ve seen it suggested that it was a means to bolster domestic component manufacture, though I wouldn"t hold that to be gospel.

[tonycollinet]

How can it bolster local component manufacture, if it drives their market overseas. :facepalm: