834.24/638
The Ambassador in Paraguay (Frost) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 15.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s unnumbered despatch of October 13th,52 transmitting a communication from the Office of Economic Warfare concerning the adoption of a simplified Import Recommendation form; and to report that the Paraguayan Country Agency, the Direction General of Industry and Commerce, has just received delivery on a new stock of Import Recommendation forms, sufficient for at least eight months, and, consequently, does not consider it feasible to adopt the simplified form at this time.
In other countries the quantity of forms represented by the recent delivery is such as could readily be discarded for the advantages of simplification. However, this country is poor, its budget is small, and the amount involved in the new printing just delivered figures rather prominently in the expenditures of the Direction General of Industry and Commerce. As a matter of fact, delivery has been held up on several occasions because of the uncertainty of the Government Printing Office as to payment by the Country Agency. The difficulties and delays in obtaining the original supply of Import Recommendation forms were outlined in the Embassy’s despatch No. 1065 of May 25 [27], 1943.53
The Embassy will keep informed constantly as to the situation of the Country Agency’s supply of forms and will endeavor to have the new form introduced as soon as possible.
In the meantime, it has passed on to the Country Agency a list of the questions on the present form to which answers are not essential and no Import Recommendations will be held up, either by it or the Embassy, where the information covered by these questions is absent.
Respectfully yours,