| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 2916.1 | | QUARK::LIONEL | Free advice is worth every cent | Thu Feb 24 1994 16:27 | 4 |
| Import duties are established for specific classes of merchandise. As far
as I know, there are no import duties for software.
Steve
|
| 2916.2 | | PASTIS::MONAHAN | humanity is a trojan horse | Sat Feb 26 1994 05:36 | 12 |
| In principle, most countries have import duties for anything that
has a definable value. When travelling to a customer site with software
on a tape, to avoid duty I have had to get the correct paperwork for
"temporary import" which means that you pay no duty if you take it out
again within a short specified period. If you are travelling abroad
with magnetic media you would be well advised to investigate what you
might need in the way of paperwork. I once spent a very uncomfortable
hour at Heathrow airport with a magtape of VMS sources. I think they
eventually let me go on grounds of insanity.
Fortunately the customs officers generally don't know how to handle
it when it is imported over the net. ;-)
|
| 2916.3 | | EICMFG::MMCCREADY | Mike McCready Digital-PCS | Sun Feb 27 1994 12:23 | 7 |
| > If you are travelling abroad with magnetic media you would be well
> advised to investigate what you might need in the way of paperwork.
Which covers of course not only complying with import regulations of
the country travelling to or through, but also export licensing.
Mike
|
| 2916.4 | | PASTIS::MONAHAN | humanity is a trojan horse | Mon Feb 28 1994 03:18 | 12 |
| I should have mentioned export licensing. Many countries have
export licensing restrictions. There are standard DEC products that I
cannot get here in France without applying for a U.S. export licence.
Equally, I have software on disk here that I cannot permit to go
outside France without a French export licence.
For export licensing they don't care whether it was on a magtape or
over the net - if it got to the other end without an export licence
then you are guilty. I didn't mention it in my earlier reply because
the majority of software is not subject to export licensing
restrictions, and the base note was obviously oriented to software
costs.
|
| 2916.5 | | DPDMAI::EYSTER | Dogbert's Clues for the Clueless | Mon Feb 28 1994 11:15 | 7 |
| -.1
Could you explain further what is and is not subject? The base note
was oriented to software costs only in that, given no import duties and
all other things being equal, software should (and apparently is) being
developed in countries with low labor costs then merely put on the
distribution disks or ported across the net, duty free.
|
| 2916.6 | | NOTIME::SACKS | Gerald Sacks ZKO2-3/N30 DTN:381-2085 | Mon Feb 28 1994 15:49 | 3 |
| A former coworker of mine had reason to carry software from the U.S. to Canada.
He quickly discovered that "software" was subject to restrictions whereas "data"
was not. From then on, he only carried data.
|
| 2916.7 | | DRDAN::KALIKOW | Info Highway construction crew | Mon Feb 28 1994 15:55 | 3 |
| ... data written as input to compilers, or possibly data output from
compilers and linkers, one surmises? :-)
|
| 2916.8 | | PASTIS::MONAHAN | humanity is a trojan horse | Tue Mar 01 1994 04:54 | 10 |
| re: .6 :-)
A long time ago I worked with someone who had previously worked on
a project like that. They needed to get software listings regularly
from the U.S. to Canada, and it was in the days before computer
networks.
They discovered that the cheapest method was to drive the listings
to the U.S. side of the border, make a local telephonbe call and have a
typist type all the listings in to a teleprinter that was connected to
a similar machine the other side of the border.
|
| 2916.9 | | TOOK::MORRISON | Bob M. LKG1-3/A11 226-7570 | Tue Mar 01 1994 10:22 | 12 |
| > They discovered that the cheapest method was to drive the listings
> to the U.S. side of the border, make a local telephonbe call and have a
> typist type all the listings in to a teleprinter that was connected to
> a similar machine the other side of the border.
This must have been a LONG time ago. I would think even a 300 baud acoustic
modem would have been faster.
.0 raises an interesting dilemma. It would be impractical for Customs to
monitor everything that goes across international borders on the net. But the
fact that U.S. companies can develop software overseas and send it back to the
U.S. duty-free, but can't do the same for most material goods, raises some
interesting questions about job security, etc.
|
| 2916.10 | Big Brother is already on the move ... | DPDMAI::UNLAND | | Tue Mar 01 1994 14:51 | 17 |
| re: .9 and monitoring international data traffic ...
>.0 raises an interesting dilemma. It would be impractical for Customs to
>monitor everything that goes across international borders on the net.
Actually, the opposite is the case. The US Government *already*
monitors everything that goes across the wire internationally, in
the name of "National Security". It would be relatively simple for
US Customs to add computers and software to the existing operation
for the purpose of identifying and regulating inbound and outbound
software. Much the same as virus programs do today, the Customs
programs could look for "signatures" that indicate program code
as opposed to raw data. All of this could be automated very cheaply,
compared to what it costs for human inspectors. Judging from some
recent Government RFP's on the street, this may already be underway.
Geoff
|