Group 5- Unit 1

INNOVATIVES REFORMS OF CARLOS III.

Madrid, Spain, 14th October of 1778

Carlos III

The last 12^th October the king Carlos III of Spain signed el Reglamento de comercio libre or The Free trade regulation.  In the explanatory part of the document, the monarch stated that, "having as purpose the happiness of all my subjects, I came to the conclusion that only free and protected trade between Europeans and Spaniards of America could restore agriculture and industry”.

The Free Trade Regulation is a regulation of real tariffs for the free trade of Spain and India. The reason for this promulgation is to make trade relations between Spain and America more flexible. The free trade regulation will provide great benefits to both continents.

The most important provisions of this royal ordinance are the follows ones:

-Authorizes direct trade between 13 ports in Spain

-The owners of the boats, must be Spanish;

-Some raw materials from America, will not pay taxes. 

Carlos III signs the free trade decree

-They do not need to pay any rights to certain manufactures of wool, linen and cotton

- Goods arriving in American ports are totally of Spanish origin, taxes are reduced by a third and if the cargo of that origin only reaches the thirds, taxes are reduced by a fifth.

As we said earlier, the king has made this reform an attempt of economic recovery of the sectors of industry and agriculture. These reforms are becoming very famous in Europe, and are mainly promoted by several rulers such as Catherine II of Russia, Joseph II of Austria and Frederick II of Prussia. This movement is called Enlightenment Despotism.

According to several sources, the king added more decrees to the new reform. We will keep on reporting.

If you want more information about the king, you can click here