SPOKES IN THE WHEELS OF FAMILIES ?

23/05/2006: Spokes in the wheels of families? José Ribeiro e Castro MEP and Marie Panayotopoulos - Cassiotou MEP "We clearly disagree with the European Commission's interpretation of what is comprised within category 3 of Annex H of the 6th VAT Directive", said José Ribeiro e Castro MEP, President of the Portuguese CDS-People's Party, and Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou MEP after the meeting with László Kovács, European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union. The subject of the meeting was the exclusion of baby nappies from the range of products to which a reduced VAT rate can be applied.

Both MEPs agreed that there is an unreasonable and unjustified different treatment between adult incontinence protection and baby nappies. If the Commission stands by its interpretation, this could be regarded as an age-based discrimination for the purpose of article 13 of EC Treaty.

"There are five Member States which have lowered their tax rates - Portugal, Malta, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. We believe that the European institutions - the Council and the Commission in particular - should encourage the other states to follow their example instead of taking measures against them", said José Ribeiro e Castro MEP.

"Baby nappies and adult incontinence pads are made from the same materials, fulfil the same functions and carry equal health benefits. We brought Commissioner Kovács samples of both in order to try to establish the difference... Some legal experts might understand the legal arguments of the Commission services although, as usual, other legal experts disagree. But no-one, no citizen, nobody with common sense, can understand the difference between baby nappies and adult incontinence pads, why they are taxed differently and why baby nappies should have the higher VAT rate", concluded José Ribeiro e Castro MEP.