To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list those treaty articles which provide for unanimity of voting in respect of matters contained in Article 99 of the Treaty of Rome. [17524]
Article 99 of the Treaty of Rome relates to the Council's powers to adopt provisions for the harmonisation of legislation concerning turnover taxes, excise duties and other forms of indirect taxation to the extend that such harmonisation is necessary to ensure that the establishment and functioning of internal market. The Article provides for unanimity of voting in relation to these matters. Other articles in the Treaty which specifically refer to fiscal matters maintain the unanimity requirement. In particular, Article 100a paragraph 2 explicitly excludes fiscal provisions from the internal market implementation measures that can be decided by qualified majority voting.Similarly, in relation to environmental measures Article 130s paragraph 2 states that provisions primarily of a fiscal nature must be adopted on the basis of unanimity.