Parliamentary Questions | Subject: Plastic tax - establishing plastic levy or plastic tax

Questions tabled by MEP Moritz Körner 

Could the Commission list all Member States that:

1. had a plastic levy or plastic tax in place on plastic producers or plastic products before January 2021;

2. amended their existing plastic levy or plastic tax on plastic producers or plastic products after January 2021;

3. have introduced a plastic levy or plastic tax on plastic producers or plastic products since January 2021?

Answers:

The Member States have no obligation to report to the Commission whether they have or intend to establish a plastic levy or plastic tax. Some Member States have chosen to establish a national tax while others have indicated they will most likely not do so. According to the information available in the Taxes in Europe Database, nine Member States (Denmark, France, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Portugal and Sweden) had a form of tax on plastics in place before 1 January 2021.

In full respect of subsidiarity, it will be up to each Member State to design the most suitable measures to achieve the objective of improving recycling of plastic packaging. They can achieve this objective by way of regulatory measures or by promoting better recycling, but they could also choose taxation at national level if they deem it appropriate.

In a broader context, the Commission would like to stress that the plastics-based own resource is not a tax, but a national contribution to the EU budget, which provides an additional incentive to reduce plastic packaging waste and supports the EU recycling objectives. By design, the Own Resource Decision1 includes no planned instrument for Member States to seek a contribution on the non-recycled plastic packaging waste from actors at national level.

Link to the Parliamentary Questions | Subject: Plastic tax - establishing plastic levy or plastic tax