HL Deb 12 December 2002 vol 642 c59WA
Lord Pearson of Rannoch

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the reply by Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 20 November (HL Debs, cols 373–74), whether, in view of Articles 2, 4, 43, 46, 98, and 99.1 of the treaty establishing the European Community, tax harmonisation could be proposed by the European Commission as single market legislation. [HL328]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

The legal base of a measure, that is to say article or articles which provide the justification for adoption of a measure by the Council, depends on the aim and content of the measure in question. The only articles that can provide the legal base for a measure which has as its aim and content the harmonisation of tax are Articles 93, 94 and 308. All of these articles require unanimity.

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