Whisky Tax Stamp

EDM number 842 in 2001-02, proposed by Annabelle Ewing on 12/02/2002.

That this House notes with concern the UK Government's plans that a Tax Stamp be put on every bottle of whisky sold; believes that whilst effective measures must be taken against fraud, this scheme as a device to prevent it is fundamentally flawed; further notes that the DTI in 1997 wrote to the Norwegian Government when it was considering a similar scheme to warn that it was 'likely to be inefficient and ineffective as a means of combating fraud and illicit trade'; further notes that it would apply to spirits only and not to wine and therefore would discriminate against home grown drinks and in favour of imported wines; further notes that if implemented, it might cost even a small distiller ú6.5 million a year in extra costs; further notes that the US, Greece and Ecuador have abolished strip stamps, whilst Germany, Belgium and Norway have abandoned plans to introduce them; and calls upon the UK Government to abandon its plans to introduce this discriminatory and hugely burdensome scheme on the Scotch Whisky industry.

This motion has been signed by a total of 19 MPs.