November 20, 2013

Norway to lower imported EU meat, cheese tax

Norway's newly-elected government has promised to reduce the tax that the previous government had put on goods imported from the EU, such as cheese and meat.

The tax breaches the rules of the EU's single market, of which the Scandinavian country is a part. Norway's new centre-right government aims to change the current tax regime on farm and food products imported from the EU.

However, it will take some time to assess the current situation before a proposal can be put forward, Norwegian EU and European Economic Area (EEA) Minister Vidar Helgesen told the Europe committee in the Norwegian parliament on Friday (Nov 15).

Norway introduced a tax on certain goods imported from the EU on New Year's Day 2013. This meant, for example, that the price on cheese from EU producers went up by 277%.

The meeting on Friday was held to inform the Norwegian parliament of which areas the new government will lead a different EU policy than the previous one.

"Tariffs are important for the profitability of Norwegian agriculture, but the consideration for the Norwegian consumers and food industry supports a reduced tax," Helgesen said.

"The government believes that Norwegian agriculture production could do with competition on quality from other countries. New international trade deals in the future could also in the future make bigger rearrangements of the agricultural policy necessary," the minister added.