IOR/L/PS/12/3842

The file concerns the question of whether Bahrain (also referred to as Bahrein), the Trucial Coast, and Kuwait should be considered part of the British Empire for the purposes of import duties and international agreements. The issue is mainly discussed in terms of the Import Duties Act, 1932 (copy of the Act, folios 221-233), which granted exemption of general ad valorem duty and any additional duty on goods consigned from any part of the British Empire, and produced in:

• any part of His Majesty's dominions outside the United Kingdom
• any territory under His Majesty's protection

The papers include: discussion of the status of Bahrain under the terms of the Import Duties Act, 1932; India Office and Foreign Office agreement, 1935, that Bahrain (and the Trucial Coast and Kuwait) should not be classed as part of the British Empire for the purposes of the Act; representations from a company importing red oxide from Abu Musa about the payment of such duty, 1935; the decision of the Foreign Office to reverse their earlier decision and to include Bahrain, the Trucial Coast, and Kuwait in the British Empire for the purposes of the Act, 1936; enquiries from various companies over the status of Bahrain and other British-protected states in the Persian Gulf for import purposes; a request, which the British Government declined, from the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) for imperial preference to be given to Bahrain oil for export to Australia and New Zealand, 1937; the view of the Foreign Office, 1937, that Bahrain should be counted as a British protectorate for the purposes the Narcotics Drugs Convention of 1931; and related correspondence concerning the duty on imports from the region.

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.