2. CODE OF CONDUCT FOR BUSINESS TAXATION
AND PROGRESS REPORT ON TAXATION OF INCOME FROM SAVINGS AND INTEREST
AND ROYALTY PAYMENTS (COM (1998) 595)
Letter from Dawn Primarolo MP, Financial
Secretary to the Treasury, to Lord Tordoff, Chairman of the Committee
I enclose an explanatory memorandum on the above
Commission Communication.
This report will be considered as part of the
ECOFIN 1 December discussion of progress on the Code of Conduct,
savings tax, interest and royalties and state aid.
The document has only just been published (25
November). If there were more time between publication of the
document and ECOFIN, we would of course wish to have had the benefit
of your Committee's consideration before the Council meeting.
But I regret that on this occasion it will not be possible. We
have not yet received the text under Council cover, so I am arranging
for an advance copy to be deposited in Parliament today. I enclose
a copy of the text for your ease of reference.
27 November 1998
Letter from Lord Tordoff, Chairman of
the Committee, to Dawn Primarolo MP, Financial Secretary to the
Treasury
Thank you for your letter of 27 November enclosing
an advance copy of this document, which Sub-Committee A considered
at its meeting on 15 December. It decided to hold this document
under scrutiny because it is relevant to the forthcoming enquiry
on the co-ordination of tax policy, about which we shall be in
touch with you separately. We do of course understand that you
will need to participate in the on-going discussions on these
subjects.
Meanwhile, it would be helpful to have a copy
of the interim report which we understand that your Code of Conduct
Group made to the Council on 1 December, as well as any comments
you may wish to give on that meeting.
15 December 1998
Letter from Dawn Primarolo MP, Paymaster
General, HM Treasury, to Lord Tordoff, Chairman of the Committee
Thank you for your letter of 15 December concerning
the Commission's First Annual Report on the Code of Conduct for
Business Taxation and Progress Report on taxation of income from
savings and interest and royalty payments.
You asked specifically to have a copy of the
interim report which was presented to the Ecofin Council on 1
December. I should explain that because the Ecofin Council has
agreed that the work of the Group is confidential I am not at
liberty to make the report available to you nor to divulge details
concerning other Member States. I have informed the House of Commons
on 17 December 1998 of the UK measures which are on the initial
list for discussion by the Group and I attach a copy of the Official
Report for your reference.
15 February 1999
Letter from Lord Tordoff, Chairman of
the Committee, to Dawn Primarolo MP, Paymaster General, HM Treasury
Thank you for your letter of 15 February, replying
to mine of 15 December, in which I asked for a copy of the Interim
Report which your Code of Conduct Group had made to the Ecofin
Council on 1 December. You say that you are not able to provide
this because the work of the Group is confidential. Sub-Committee
A has expressed great concern that this agreement among Member
States' governments to carry on negotiations over a long period
in secret denies national parliaments the possibility of scrutinising
what is happening.
While we quite understand that you personally
are in a difficult position if ministers from other countries
insist on their input remaining confidential, we trust that you
will use you best endeavours to overcome this lack of transparency.
It is clearly outside the spirit of the Amsterdam Treaty and makes
a mockery of the professed intention of the European Council to
bring Europe closer to the citizen. We will await with interest
further developments and it is of course likely that Sub-Committee
A will raise the matter when it takes evidence on its new enquiry.
9 March 1999
Letter from Lord Tordoff, Chairman of
the Committee, to Dawn Primarolo MP, Paymaster General, HM Treasury
You and I have been in correspondence about
this document (most recently in my letter of 9 March to you, replying
to yours of 15 February). As you will be aware, we are holding
the document under scrutiny in connection with Sub-Committee A's
current enquiry into taxes in the EU, and we are particularly
concerned about the lack of transparency in the operation of the
group.
It is therefore unfortunate that your letter
of 29 March to the Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee
in the House of Commons on this subject was apparently not copied
to me. I would remind you that there is a long-standing convention
that correspondence between Ministers and the Chairman of the
scrutiny committee in one House should be copied to the Chairman
and Clerk of the other, and I should be grateful if you could
ensure that this convention is observed in the future.
4 May 1999
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