HC Deb 04 December 1987 vol 123 cc721-4W
Mr. Robertson

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has as to which goods and services are zero-rated with respect to value added tax in the individual member countries of the European Community.

Mr. Lilley

I have been asked to reply.

According to the latest information available, zero-rating is applied in the individual member states of the European Community to the following goods and services:

  • France: None
  • Germany: None
  • Greece: None
  • Luxembourg: None
  • Netherlands: None
  • Belgium: The supply of daily and weekly newspapers.

Denmark: Sale and hire of aircraft and of ships of not less than 5 gross tons register, other than sports aircraft and pleasure craft;
Repairs, maintenance and installation work performed on aircraft and ships covered by the point above, and on their permanent equipment, and materials supplied by the enterprise concerned for these purposes;
Sales of newspapers which are normally published in not less than one monthly issue;
Subscriptions for foreign periodicals from a foreign publisher on behalf of a subscriber.

Ireland:

  • The carriage of goods in Ireland in execution of a contract to transfer the goods to a place outside Ireland;
  • Animal feeding stuff (excluding feeding stuff for domestic pets);
  • Fertiliser which is supplied in units of not less than 10 kilograms;
  • Services provided by the Commissioners of Irish Lights;
  • Gold supplied to the Central Bank of Ireland;
  • Life-saving services provided by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution;
  • Food and drink of a kind used for human consumption (excluding certain products such as alcoholic beverages, manufactured beverages, ice cream and confectionery);
  • Medicine of a kind used for human oral consumption:
  • Medicine of a kind used for animal oral consumption (excluding medicine for domestic pets);
  • Seeds, plants, trees, etc, of a kind used in order to produce food;
  • Printed books and booklets including atlases (excluding newspapers, periodicals, catalogues, diaries, etc);
  • Articles of children's personal clothing of sizes appropriate to averagely built children not more than 10 years but excluding clothing made with fur skin and articles not labelled with size or age;
  • Sole and upper leather of a kind supplied for the manufacture and repair of footwear, heels etc;
  • Medical appliances, namely invalid carriages, crutches, orthopaedic appliances and other artificial parts of the body (excluding artificial teeth); coal, gas, electricity, wax candles (plain, white and undecorated), hydrocarbon oil of a kind used for heating or lighting.

Italy:

  • The supply of daily newspapers;
  • The supply of land liable to be used as building land;
  • Supplies of unwrought gold;
  • Supplies of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal (including work carried out with this scrap metal).

Portugal:

  • Supplies of basic food products;
  • Agricultural imports (animal feed, live animals, plants, tools, etc);
  • Supplies of newspapers and periodicals;
  • Books;
  • Medicines;
  • Artificial limbs, orthopaedic articles;

Spain:

  • Legal services provided by barristers and solicitors;
  • The services of sporting associations recognised by the state as being of public utility, when provided to individuals participating in a sport or in physical education, provided that the services are directly linked to the said activities;
  • Sporting entertainment of an amateur nature.

United Kingdom:

  • Food of a kind used for human consumption and animal feeding stuffs, with the exception of certain prepared products such as ice cream, chocolates, manufactured beverages or beverages chargeable with any excise duty and pet foods;
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  • Seeds or other means of propagation of plants comprised in food of a kind used for human consumption or animal feeding stuffs;
  • Live animals of a kind generally used as, or yielding or producing, food for human consumption;
  • Sewerage services;
  • Water other than distilled water;
  • Books, newspapers, journals, periodicals, music, maps;

The supply of magnetic tape and tape recorders to the Royal National Institute for the Blind;

The supply to a charity of wireless receiving sets and of cassette tape recorders solely for gratuitous loan to the blind;

The supply of information to newspapers and to the public;

Coal, gas, electricity, hydrocarbon oil (except that on which excise duty has been or is to be charged);

Construction of buildings (ie the granting, by a person constructing a building, of a major interest in the building, and the supply, in the course of the construction or demolition of any building, of any services other than the services of an architect, etc);

The supply, by a person supplying the services mentioned above, of certain materials;

Certain services performed outside the United Kingdom, supplies to businesses belonging outside the United Kingdom, supplies of certain insurance in connection with international transportation, supplies of certain services in connection with the importation or exportation of goods;

The supply, repair or maintenance of commercial ships and aircraft and equipment of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution;

The transport of passengers in any vehicle, ship or aircraft capable of carrying not less than 12 passengers, or by the Post Office, or on any scheduled flight;

The transport of passengers or freight to or from a place outside the United Kingdom;

Certain services in connection with the handling of ships or aircraft or goods carried in them;

The supply of certain caravans and houseboats:

Supplies between central banks and between them and members of the London gold market of gold held in the United Kingdom;

Title Author Commissioned Completion/publication
SOE in France M. R. D. Foot 1960 1966
SOE in the Far East1 C. Cruickshank 1980 1983
SOE in Scandinavia1 C. Cruickshank 1984 1986
SOE in Greece1 Richard Clogg 1984 Estimated completion 1988
SOE in the Low Countries1 M. R. D. Foot 1987 Estimated completion 1989
SOE in Yugoslavia1 M. C. Wheeler 1987 1990
British Intelligence in the Second World War2
Vol. I Professor Sir Harry Hinsley and others 1971 1979
Vol. II Professor Sir Harry Hinsley and others 1971 1981
Vol. III (Part I) Professor Sir Harry Hinsley and others 1971 1984
1 Main preparation and all publication costs met by commercial publishers.
2Estimated completion date for this series is 1989.

On 9 March 1966 the then Prime Minister announced that the official programme would be extended to include selected periods or episodes of peace time history. The following were commissioned:

Title Author Commissioned Completion/publication
Environmental Planning Professor J. B. Cullingworth 1969 Published in 4 vols. between 1975–81
Nationalisation of British Industry Professor Sir Norman Chester 1969 1975
Colonial Development1 D. J. Morgan 1969 Published in 5 vols. 1980
External Economic Policy2 Professor L. S. Pressnell 1974 Vol. I published 1987. Vol. II estimated date of completion 1990
Defence Organisation since 19452 Professor D. Cameron Watt 1974 Estimated date of completion 1990

The issue by a bank of a note payable to bearer on demand;

Drugs, medicines, medical and surgical appliances, etc. (excluding hearing aids, dentures, spectacles, etc.);

The supply by a charity of any goods which have been donated for sale;

The supply to a charity of the publication in any newspaper, journal or periodical of certain advertisements to raise money for or make known the objects of the charity;

The supply to certain charities of medicinal products for treatment or medical research;

Articles designed as clothing or footwear for young children;

Protective boots and helmets for individual use.