Intrastat Classification (Hansard, 19 February 1993)

§ Mr. Nigel Jones
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the practice of Customs and Excise governing the distribution of the Intrastat classification nomenclature; and if he will make a statement.

§ Sir John Cope
A free copy of the Intrastat classification nomenclature has been distributed to traders whose trade during 1991–92 exceeded the Intrastat threshold and who are therefore required to submit monthly supplementary statistical declarations. It assists them in identifying the codes required to complete the statistical declarations accurately.
Additional copies may be obtained at a charge of £7 each, inclusive of delivery.
To date, approximately 33,000 free copies have been issued, and orders received for a further 3,700. The Customs and Excise single market liaison officers also answer classification queries.

§ Mr. Nigel Jones
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the cost of distributing the Intrastat classification nomenclature for the latest year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

§ Sir John Cope
This is the first year of distribution of the Intrastat classification nomenclature and the total printing and distribution cost so far is approximately £225,000.

§ Mr. Nigel Jones
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to send only the relevant parts of the Intrastat classification nomenclature to appropriate firms; and if he will make a statement.

§ Sir John Cope
No. In order to supply only the relevant parts of the Intrastat classification nomenclature it would have been necessary to ascertain, for each of the 33,000 traders involved, which parts of it would cover their trading activities. This could have been achieved only by 381W asking traders to supply the necessary information. This would have created an unnecessary burden on traders. This course was therefore rejected.