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VED rebates
Page 15
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their costs up to 15% more than the rest of the EC." European Conservative spokesman Anne McIntosh says that the German decision will have a "devastating affect on British haulage".
The International Road Transport Union has also attacked the tax, claiming that foreign vehicles add only marginally to the cost of Germany's road network.
"The Federal Republic of Germany has decided to introduce what amounts purely and simply to an additional tax aimed above all at foreign vehicles," says the 1RU. "'This new tax will neither eliminate nor reduce formalities and distortions of competition which have so far existed. It can in no way be justified by the objectives of Community policy."
The TRU has appealed to all EC Governments to demand a re-examination of quota agreements with Germany before the tax is imposed and adds: "If no such agreements exist, the IRU appeals to Governments to take adequate measures with a view to maintaining the principle of equality of treatment."
E The Dutch Government is expected to introduce VED rebates for its hauliers following the German tax announcement.
The tax is expected to cost Belgian operators a total of more than .218rn per year as an average of 5,000 Belgian trucks drive through the West German borders.