§ Mr. WeirTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which other countries in the European Union have introduced an aggregates levy; what discussions he has had with the finance Ministers of the European Union regarding a common aggregate levy; what the level of aggregates levy proposed in each of the countries of the European Union is; whether aggregates imported into the UK from other countries(a) in and (b) outside the European Union will be subject to the aggregate levy; what tonnage of aggregates has been imported into the United Kingdom from (i) the European Union and (ii) countries outside the European Union in each of the last five years; and whether added value aggregates products from outside the United Kingdom will be subject to the aggregate levy. [26775]
§ Mr. Boateng[holding answer 14 January 2002]: The aggregates levy is designed to address the environmental effects of aggregate extraction in the UK and the rate was set to reflect these costs following independent research. Aggregate taxes in other EU member states are a matter for the individual states themselves. The known current position in the member states can be summarised as follows:
510W
- Denmark—0,67 euro/m3
- France—0.1 euro/tonne
- Spain—no national tax hut potential for regional taxation
- Italy—regional taxation, typically 2 to 5 per cent. of value
- Sweden—0.6 euro/tonne on sand and gravel only
- Austria—regional tax of approximately 0.15 euro/tonne
- Greece—2 per cent. of value
- Netherlands—in the process of introducing a tax.
Aggregates imported from other countries, whether in the EU or not, will be liable to the levy. The total tonnage of imported aggregate for each of the last five years for which data are available is as follows.
Imports Tonnes 1994 2,166,211 1995 1,942,602 1996 642,581 1997 502,381 1998 822,087 Imported products made from aggregates are not themselves aggregates and so will not be subject to the levy.