Canary Islands: arrangements concerning the tax on imports and exchanges AIEM

The committee adopted the report by Sérgio MARQUES (EPP-ED, P) broadly approving the proposal under the consultation procedure subject to a number of drafting amendments aimed at clarifying the text. The committee was concerned to make it clear that the Commission proposal did not constitute authorisation to introduce the AIEM in the Canaries but instead provided for a waiver of Articles 23, 25 and 90 of the Treaty, thereby allowing Spain to discriminate in tax terms in favour of given Canary Island products by exempting them from the AIEM. It also specified that responsibility for levying the AIEM in the Canary Islands was a matter for central government and not the regional authorities. Lastly, the committee sought to provide for a rapid, simplified system to enable products to be added to or removed from the list of sensitive products in the Annexes.�