Parliamentary question - H-0899/2006Parliamentary question
H-0899/2006

Support for film productions through tax breaks in the United Kingdom

ORAL QUESTION H-0899/06
for Question Time at the part-session in November 2006
pursuant to Rule 109 of the Rules of Procedure
by Ruth Hieronymi
to the Commission

In the United Kingdom, the Finance Act is currently being debated. The Act provides that only eligible expenditure incurred in the UK will qualify for tax breaks.

 

As a result, US film productions produced in the UK will benefit extensively from tax breaks, while British coproductions produced elsewhere in the EU will not receive these tax breaks.

 

Is this planned system of tax breaks compatible with EU competition law? If so, is this unequal treatment of European productions acceptable in the light of the task of promoting cultural diversity in the EU pursuant to Article 151 of the EU Treaty? If not, what measures can the Commission take under the EU Treaty and, in particular, under EU competition law in such a case?

 

 

Tabled: 18.10.2006

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