DRAWBACK  , in

commerce, the paying back of a duty previously paid upon the exportation of excisable articles or upon the re-exportation of foreign goods . 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 untaxed . It differs from a bounty in that the latter enables commodities to be sold abroad at less than their cost price; it may occur, however, under certain conditions that the giving of a drawback has an effect equivalent to that of a bounty, as in the case of the so-called sugar bounties in Germany (see SUGAR) . The earlier tariffs contained elaborate tables of the drawbacks allowed on the exportation or re-exportation of commodities, but so far as the United Kingdom is concerned the system of " bonded warehouses " practically abolished drawbacks, as commodities can be warehoused (placed " in bond ") until required for subsequent exportation .