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Written question asked by Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party) on Thursday, 15 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 19 December 2005. It was answered by John Healey (Labour) on Monday, 9 January 2006 on behalf of the Treasury.

EU Committees

Question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings of the EU (a) Customs Code Committee—duty-free arrangements, (b) Customs Code Committee—tariff and statistical nomenclature, (c) Customs Code Committee—tariff quotas and (d) Committee on recovery of claims have taken place during the UK presidency of the EU; who presided over each meeting; what other UK representatives were present; what provisions were made for representations of the devolved governments; and if he will make a statement.
Answer

There have been no meetings of the Duty Free Arrangements Committee during the UK presidency.There have been 10 meetings of the Customs Code Committee—tariff and statistical nomenclature division during the UK presidency. A member of the European Commission chaired each meeting and on each occasion the only UK representatives were from HM Revenue and Customs. Customs matters are a reserved matter for HMG and are not within the competence of the devolved Governments.There has been one meeting of the Customs Code Committee—tariff quotas during the UK presidency, HMRC quota experts attended. It was presided over by Patric Wallez of TAXUD Directorate B.There has been two meetings of the Committee on recovery of claims during the UK presidency on 13 July and 21 December. The UK was represented by an official from HM Revenue and Customs (HMCE). TAXUD chaired the meeting.Customs matters are a reserved matter for HMG and are not within the competence of the devolved Governments.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
441 c303-4W; 39031
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Committees Government departments EU action Treasury
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk