Professor Jochem, how important are used capital goods for the developing countries?
They have great economic significance because most developing countries lack capital for new equipment or vehicles. An extreme example is India, where the ratio of used goods is about 75 per cent of all capital goods imports. The German Council for Sustainable Development warns that used capital goods could also put development at risk. Why is that so? That applies to goods, which are relatively intensive in environmental terms or sensitive in terms of safety. In Mexico, for instance, we once discovered a dry-cleaning plant from the USA which dated from the 1950s and was run with volatile petrol in an open process and was operated by workers who were smoking. Many used goods for basic industries are dubious because they seriously pollute the environment. In the case of capital goods and vehicles, we also worry about the safety and health of the people who operate them. The Federation of German Industry argues that used capital goods from industrialised nations are safe because usually
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