Trade and Assistance Review 1997-98

Annual Report Series

Trade and Assistance Review 1997-98 was released on 4 November 1998. The Productivity Commission is required to continue the practice of its predecessors, the Industry Commission and the Industries Assistance Commission, in reporting annually on measures that provide assistance to industry.

Assistance is defined broadly to include any act that, directly or indirectly, assists a person to carry on a business or activity, or confers a pecuniary benefit on the person carrying out a business (Productivity Commission Act 1998).

Until recently, the focus in the Commission's annual reporting has been largely on assistance to agriculture and manufacturing, particularly the assistance provided through tariffs and other border measures, as well as domestic marketing arrangements designed to support local industry. However, structural and policy changes have meant that a wider range of issues now have to be considered in the Commission's annual Trade and Assistance Review.

Its companion annual report series are the Commission's Regulation and Its Review 1997-98 and Annual Report 1997-98.

The report forms part of the Commission's Annual Report Series.

See also

• More Trade and Assistance Review reports