In light of the destruction of Hoshi no Iori, the Empire faces a food shortage of unprecedented magnitude. It is a sad but all to true fact that some individuals will seek to inflate their prices in an unrealistic fashion.

That being said, I propose the following:

Proposal: 90 Anti-Price Gouging

Purpose: To prevent unfair pricing of food items in the wake of the Battle of Yamatai.

Proposal: It shall be a violation of Imperial law for a person, or corporation to raise their prices from the prewar level by more than 25% and shall be punishable by a fine.

Motion to change: "It shall be a violation of Imperial law for a person, or corporation to raise their prices by more than 25% from their prices prior to the Battle of Yamatai and shall be punishable by a fine. The fine will be equal to the total amount of KS of each product in violation of this law, times 5000."

Purpose: Many prices have already risen since the start of the war, so to say that no corporation may "raise their prices from the prewar level by more than 25%" seems to be to extreme. Also, it seems necessary to include an exact method for determining the total cost of the fines.

Requires: Clarification on imported food pricing

Change to wording is Seconded.

Proposed addendum.
External corporations wishing to import food who engage in price gouging, (defined as price increases of 50% or more from those in place prior to the Battle of Yamatai), should be subject to a Tariff equal to the aforementioned punishment.

Clarification: This law does not affect the price of food sold by foreign corporations or individuals to Yamataian individuals, corporations, etc wishing to import food to Yamatai? E.g. a Nepleslian potato farm wants to sell at a higher price to a Yamataian merchant. Because it is on Nepleslian sovereign territory, this law has no effect?

While the use of tariff makes sense from a viewpoint of economics, a mid-war tariff may cause diplomatic issues. I would ask first that the nations allied against our common enemy be informed of the effort to make this change, and be given the option of pondering the law for themselves both domestically and for export -- or at least respecting our wishes and trying to work with us on this measure. It may take a bit more time, but may prove better for everyone, and be seen as a more cooperative option than issuing a tariff on another nation's industries without warning.

Even if it fails, at least we have extended a courtesy warning and tried other options first -- before employing a tariff, and we can apply it to our own exports as a sign of good will.

As for the domestic part of the clause, it would have my full support if appended to take into account special instances.

Such instances may include damage to factories or farmlands which make a product harder and more costly to produce, and a problem with materials. Such instances would have to be considered by the government on a case-by-case basis to determine validity.

I have found a legal and binding reason for Yamatai to exclude all foreign companies from this tariff.

The military alliance treaty (not sure what YE) between the DION and YSE states:



Taken from here. To impose a tariff on foreign sellers or importers would be contra to the ratified treaty.

I withdraw the Tarriff clause, however, from the full treaty of YE 32.

Civilian

* Free and unrestricted travel and trade, other than restricted technologies, to the other nation is allowed for citizens of both nations.
* Persons crossing borders are subject to reasonable searches as a security measure, and will be required to follow that nation's laws.

This means that Proposal 90 is applicable to any Nepleslian who enters Yamatai.

This is still, arguably, a restrictive measure preventing free trade. I'm not convinced this can even be passed legally now. If we're supposed to respect a sovereign nation's domestic laws over international laws (or treaties like this) then, all a nation needs to do to ignore international restrictions is pass a domestic law superceding the international law it doesn't like. That's what this is starting to seem like.

While Yamatai's senate has approved the YSE-DION treaty of YE 32, it was never approved on the Nepleslian side and should be considered void until they approve it.