§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if Article 26 of the Schengen Agreement requires parties to support harmonisation of indirect taxation within the Council of Ministers; and if the UK Government are exempt. [136471]
§ Mrs. RocheArticle 26 of the Schengen Agreement signed in 1985 was given effect through the Schengen Implementing Convention signed in 1990. Those provisions of the Schengen Implementing Convention dealing with certain aspects of the creation of the Single Market (Articles 120-125) were not given a legal basis in the European Union Treaties as they had been superseded by European Communities legislation. They are therefore not the basis of future Schengen development, and they were not included in the Council Decision on the United Kingdom's participation.