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SCOTCH SEEKS MEP BACKING FOR A GENUINE SINGLE MARKET | |
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MEPs are being urged by Scotch Whisky producers to support the introduction of a genuine single market for alcoholic drinks with the launch of a new campaign today. Five years ago, a report for the European Commission showed that the current excise system of minimum EU excise rates distorts the European drinks market against spirits and in favour of other alcoholic drinks. The minimum rate on wine is zero, while for Scotch Whisky and other spirits the minimum is €550 (£366) per hectolitre of pure alcohol. In spite of this report, no reform of the duty system has been undertaken. The new Commission has indicated that a fresh study will be carried out, and Scotch producers are seeking support of MEPs to ensure that duty rates are brought closer together in order that a genuine single market is achieved. The Director General of The Scotch Whisky Association, Hugh Morison, said: The spirits industry across Europe supports some 300,000 jobs often, as in Scotland, in areas where little alternative employment opportunities exist. Seven years into the single market there is still no sign of a single market for alcoholic drinks. We remain faced with fifteen member states each of which has a tax regime different from each other, save that they all discriminate through higher taxes against spirits. We urge the new European Parliament and the new Commission to take steps to remove over time the in-built discrimination against spirits contained within the minimum rates directive and to put pressure on individual member states to move to a closer approximation of rates, both between different alcoholic drinks and between member states. Scotch producers point out that as exports of EU spirits to the rest of the world - 4.7 billion (£3.1bn) exceed those of wine - 4 billion (£2.7bn) it is in the interests of EU trade for the Commission to set an example that tax discrimination against spirits is unacceptable. One third of all EU spirits exports are accounted for by Scotch Whisky. - END - Issued by Campbell Evans 0131 222 9235 or 0171 629 4384
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