Tour boat operators, developers of affordable housing schemes and those who wear corrective lenses or glasses all received relief in a Bill passed in the House of Assembly.

The Customs Tariff Amendment Act, 2007 was scheduled to be ready in January this year, but the almost 400-page Act needed more time to be prepared, according to Finance Minister Paula Cox.

The updated Customs Tariff Amendment has a dual purpose of adopting international standards and providing for concessions made in the Budget Speech.

Ms. Cox on Monday said the hope is that the updated Act will enable Bermuda to join the International Convention on the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System, otherwise known as the HS convention.

The HS Convention came into force in January, 1988 and as of August, 2005, 120 countries and regions are contracting parties to the Convention.

The Annex of the HS Convention is commonly known as the HS Nomenclature, and it lists commodities in order to classify all goods uniformly and systematically.

Ms. Cox explained that the Convention would offer traders a large body of jurisprudence and is keeping with the Budget which stated the Government's focus on globalisation.

Further keeping with the Budget Statement are the tariff concessions for tourism-related schemes.

Tour boat operators will now pay only ten percent duty on replacement parts for their boats.

Sporting events sponsored by the Department of Tourism and Government-sponsored conventions or conference goods will also receive what Ms Cox called temporary relief with zero duty on goods in connection with these events.

Building materials and related equipment for low-cost housing schemes, which the Government has listed as any house with a sale price up to $750,000 can also be imported without duty by the Bermuda Housing Corporation or any other low-cost housing developer.

Shadow Finance Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said the Opposition>had complained about the report not being ready by January, but were happy that it was now in front of them and that tour boat operators were finally being recognised.

She also thought Shadow Minister for the Elderly Louise Jackson would be happy to hear about the zero duty for eye glasses, which previously would have to be sent through the Chief Medical Officer and now would be much easier for seniors.

Grant GibbonB>(UBP) questioned

Ms Cox said it was a fair figure because the average price of a house on the market is now almost $1.2 million and it would be a three to four bedroom house for a large family.

And while the Customs Tariff Amendment Act 2007 now offers suggestions on how many nuclear reactors can be imported, it is because the act is based on HS Nomenclature and had only been amended minimally for Bermuda, the Finance Minister said.