§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what legislation from his Department passed in the last five years contains provision for statutory repeal or review. [2032]
§ Mr. Jack[holding answer 27 November 1995]: The annual Finance Bill allows Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise to review, on a regular basis, whether any published piece of tax legislation is still needed. Both departments are committed to review, over a number of years, all the major taxes and duties. This approach, and progress achieved were set out in some detail in "Deregulation—Cutting Red Tape" published in January 1994, updated in "Deregulation—The Way Forward" published in May this year: both are available in the Library.
Customs and Excise is responsible for two items which fall for review or statutory repeal. The first concerns Intrastat legislation—Intrastat is an EC system for capturing infra-EC trade statistics, which was introduced on 1 January 1993 when customs documentation for this traffic was abolished. This legislation contains a review clause. Treasury orders designating "Free Zones" contain a 10-year period of validity. Free zones are enclosed areas in which non-European Community goods are treated for the purposes of import duties as outside the customs territory of the Community. Customs duty, import VAT or other import charges are not due provided the goods are not released for free circulation.
In addition, major reviews of legislation have been carried out by the Treasury. Those on building societies and credit unions, for example have led to a significant number of deregulatory proposals, some of which are being brought into effect through the use of section 1 of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994.