sale of Bermuda-made goods at Airport shops.

Travellers shopping for a last-minute gift are having have to settle for something American-made, because products from the Bermuda Perfumery, Outerbridge Peppers, Horton's and several other local companies have been cleared off the shelves.

Even British chocolates and sweets and Taiwan-made mugs and tee-shirts have been banished from the three Airport shops.

Bermuda Perfumery owner Mr. Colin Curtis blasted the ban, saying the three outlets had proved profitable for his company.

"It is the last point of sale in Bermuda and a lot of people found they needed to buy a gift item,'' he said. "What better place for our products?'' Travellers would now be inconvenienced, Mr. Curtis added.

Airport manager Mr. Lawrence Lachapelle said the shops had been a significant source of revenue to the Civil Air Terminal as well.

But he had no control over matters "beyond the gates, because in essence it was America''. He said he understood US Customs' desire to protect US industry.

Negotiations were underway to open a shop outside US Customs checks, Mr.

Lachapelle said.

The clampdown came in March after US Customs in Bermuda discovered during an audit just how much they were losing in customs duty through the sale of foreign-made goods.

"There was just no way of assessing duties due from the sale of foreign-made goods beyond the US Customs check,'' said the officer in charge of US Customs in Bermuda, Mr. Steve Vogelhaupt.

He said it had always been the intent of US Customs to stop the shops from selling foreign-made goods, but they had run into a series of delays.

Only US-made goods are now allowed to be sold at the three shops, operated by Airport Shops Limited whose owners include Mr. Edgar Wilkinson and Mr. John Casling.

Mr. Wilkinson said the move had not had much impact on the shops' profits. He felt the decision was "perfectly reasonable''.

US Customs had given his company several months notice to find alternative products, he said.

The shops still sell local newspapers as they are considered non-dutiable items, he said. And candy, tee-shirts, mugs, books -- including books on Bermuda -- and other gifts items are still sold, except they are all American-made.

"There were really so few Bermuda-made goods in the shops to start with,'' Mr. Wilkinson said.

He did not think the move would cause much hardship to manufacturers of Bermuda-made goods.

But Mr. Curtis said he and Outerbridge Peppers had derived a "sizable revenue'' through the outlets.

He claimed the problem could have been avoided if US Customs had been more cooperative. They had turned down his offer to pay them the duty, he said.

"I agreed to pay them duty for everything that comes in the shops but they dug their feet in and said they were not equipped to handle the paperwork,'' he said.

"They are more interested in red-tape than getting their jobs done. They are not doing what is right for Bermuda. They just want to sit down there in their cushy little jobs and make things difficult.''