importers to personally import merchandise for retail and pay lower duty rates.

This from the Finance Minister, the Hon. David Saul, even though he admits that the changes were brought in to assist the small businessman.

The issue of small importers being hit with expensive duty adjustments as a penalty for importing their merchandise by hand was raised during the debate in the Upper House of the Customs Tariff Amendment Act 1994.

The bill was designed to simplify customs reporting forms, but has had the effect of increasing duty costs for small importers.

The issue relating to small importers was raised by the opposition's finance spokesman in the Upper House, Sen. Terry Lister, when the bill was being discussed late Wednesday.

Later, Sen. Lister indicated his belief that the amendment had not been intended to catch up to small business operators. He said, "I believe that it was simply an error in drafting. An oversight.

"When I raised the matter, I believed that Government recognised that it was an error. They can simply establish some form of certificate for such importers to present to customs officers at the point of entry so that they can be charged the reduced duty.'' The matter first came to light when The Royal Gazette reported the case of jeweller Sayeed Ramadan, who had become accustomed to importing his goods personally.

He was told by customs that as a result of the consequential legislation to the budget, he would be forced to pay a 22.25 percent duty, as opposed to the 8.5 percent paid by other jewel merchants who import by freight in larger quantities.

Senator Lister said of the matter, "There are probably not a whole lot of people affected by this. It could be as many as a hundred. But Government should be big about it and admit their mistake.'' But last night, the Minister said that no mistake had been made.

Dr. Saul said, "It was fully intended that anyone who brought in items on their person would attract the higher rate.

"The merchant would have to find another way of importing the goods to avoid the extra duty. We can keep this under review. We don't know how many people this will affect or by how much.

"If we learn that it is a real problem, once people tell us all about the problem, then we can look at it again. If it is hurting the little guy, who the budget was intended to help -- and if we can get some evidence of that, we would then reconsider it.'' But nothing will be changed in the near term. Dr. Saul said that if there was a real problem, Government would probably have representations from the Chamber of Commerce.