Duty Free Allowance

HC Deb 15 January 1997 vol 288 cc283-4W

Sir Irvine Patnick

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to maintain the duty free allowance. [10327]

Mr. Oppenheim

Duty free sales for intra-EU travel would have ceased on 1 January 1993 with the introduction of the single market. However, the decision to allow such sales to continue until 30 June 1999 was taken by the Council of Finance Ministers, including the then British Chancellor, towards the end of 1991. The UK supported this measure because additional time to remove an anomaly in the single market would permit the various trade interests time to make adjustments to their businesses. At this stage, there is no reason to change the underlying analysis.

Duty free sales for travel outside the EU will continue after 30 June 1999.