§ Lord Waddingtonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why they agreed to the European Union Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation treating the Channel Islands as dependent territories of the United Kingdom. [HL1954]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bassam of Brighton)The code of conduct which was agreed at the ECOFIN Council of 1 December 1997 notes that it is advisable that principles aimed at abolishing harmful tax measures80WA should be adopted on as broad a geographical basis as possible. In particular, the code commits member states, within the framework of their constitutional arrangements, to ensuring that these principles are applied in their dependent or associated territories, which in the United Kingdom's case includes the Channel Islands.