DRAWBACK, the repayment of a duty, previously exacted, when excisable goods are exported or foreign goods re-exported. The object of a drawback is to enable commodities which are subject to taxation to be exported and sold in a foreign country on the same terms as goods from countries where they are un taxed. It differs from a bounty in that the latter enables com modities to be sold abroad at less than their cost price ; under certain conditions, however, the giving of a drawback has an effect equivalent to that of a bounty. The tariffs of many coun tries contained tables of the drawbacks allowed on the exporta tion or re-exportation of commodities, but so far as the United Kingdom is concerned the system of "bonded warehouses" prac tically abolished drawbacks, as commodities can be warehoused (placed "in bond") until required for subsequent exportation.
(See BONDED WAREHOUSE.)