Air Passenger Duty (Hansard, 4 April 2001)

§ Mr. Austin
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those EU member states which make a distinction between EU member states and candidate countries in the application of air passenger duty; and if he will make a statement. [156831]

§ Mr. Timms
I have been asked to reply.
It is not possible to provide the information requested. Air passenger duty is specific to the UK. Other EU member states' air travel taxation systems do not operate on the same basis.

§ Mr. Austin
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the compatibility of proposed changes to air passenger duty with the Czech-UK Agreement on Air Services signed in Prague on 20 March 1998 [156829]

§ Mr. Timms
I have been asked to reply.
It is the assessment of the UK Government that the changes to air passenger duty that were introduced on 1 April 2001 are compatible with the Czech Republic-UK Agreement on Air Services signed in Prague on 20 March 1998.
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§ Mr. Austin
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if candidate countries to the European Union will be treated as EU member states for the purposes of air passenger duty from the time that the European Common Aviation Area multilateral agreement becomes applicable. [156830]

§ Mr. Timms
I have been asked to reply.
Candidate countries to the European Union will be treated as EU member states for air passenger duty purposes only when they have completed the accessionary process.

§ Mr. Austin
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the impact on competitiveness of changes in air passenger duty on flights within the European Economic Area; and if he will make a statement. [156827]

§ Mr. Timms
I have been asked to reply.
The changes to air passenger duty implemented on 1 April 2001 should have a positive impact on the UK's competitiveness within the European Economic Area. For those passengers travelling economy class the duty is reduced to £5.