John V. Farrelly
Ceist:314 Mr. Farrelly asked the Minister for Finance the reason the tax relief on milk quota purchase has not been implemented; and when he will make this announcement. [26217/01]
Written Answers. - Tax Reliefs.
The Finance Act, 2000, included provisions, subject to a commencement order, for the introduction of a special scheme of targeted relief in respect of the purchase of milk quotas under guidelines to be issued by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development for the introduction of the milk quota restructuring scheme. It was subsequently considered that the commencement order should be delayed pending the result of a High Court challenge to the scheme. The judgment of the High Court was appealed to the Supreme Court with the decision of the High Court in favour of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development being upheld by the Supreme Court in a ruling on 30 March last.
With the introduction of any new scheme of this nature, European Commission rules on state aids must be respected. When it emerged that the Commission has decided to open proceedings under Article 88(2) of the EC treaty against the Spanish authorities in respect of the operation of an interest rebate scheme for the purchase of milk quotas, it was considered necessary to delay the signature of the commencement order until clarification on the matter was received from the Commission.
I am happy to state that following the conclusion of discussions between Commission officials and officials from my Department and the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, I signed the commencement order on Thursday, 1 November 2001. Any necessary legislative changes to backdate the order to 6 April 2000 will be included in the Finance Bill, 2002.