Parents are outraged that the Government is forcing parents to pay duty on car safety seats for children - a piece of safety equipment which the Government recently made mandatory.

"Government is making money off a law they implemented," said mother Jennifer Titterton, who recently went to Toys `n' Stuff to buy a car seat for her daughter.

"Basically I think it's unjustified that you have to pay duty on car seats, a mandatory safety feature, when - for example - boat safety equipment such as lifejackets are duty free."

And Road Safety Council Chairman Dr. Joseph Froncioni confirmed a duty is charged - not only on car safety seats, but bike helmets as well.

"The Road Safety Council has requested that duty be removed or at least lowered," he said. "However so far that has not happened."

Parents have to buy as many as three car seats for each child: one for when the child weighs less than 20 pounds, one for when it is between 20 and 40 pounds, and one for when it is between 40 and 80 pounds. There is an infant-convertible seat available which reduces the amount of times parents have to buy a new booster seat to two.

Toys `n' Stuff co-owner Carol Bromby said her store carries a range of car seats, ranging from$39.95 for the most basic, up to $279.

And with the duty set at 22.25 percent, she added: "They are not inexpensive by any means. Removing the duty would lower the price quite a bit." For the most basic of car seats, that means the price would be reduced from $39.95 to about $31.06.

Even before the new seatbelt and car safety seat laws were implemented, parents normally bought child safety seats, said Mrs. Bromby. "The law has just made others follow suit."

However, she added: "It's a shame, they should be duty-free. I would like to see it changed, see the public benefit from not having to pay duty on it."

Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown seems to be listening.

"If people are clamouring for it then on their behalf we would take it to the Finance Ministry," he told The Royal Gazette.

A lot of adjustments will have to be made to both the new seatbelt legislation and peripheral issues such as car safety equipment anyway, he said. And removing duty charges once a new law is implemented is not necessarily an automatic process.

However, "If it helps citizens comply with the law, I would give consideration to recommending it to the Minister of Finance," Dr. Brown said.