1st May 2014

Court of Justice of the EU rejects UK´s appeal against FTT

On Wednesday 30 April, the Court of Justice of the EU has dismissed a legal challenge filed by the UK against the proposed Financial Transaction Tax. According to the Court, the UK argues against certain elements of the proposal, but since the FTT is not yet in place, the legal challenge is premature. The FTT is a heavily discussed topic. An EU-wide financial transaction tax has long been considered and the 2008-09 crisis intensified such discussions. In 2011 the European Commission came up with a proposal, but this draft was rejected by several Member States. Using a seldom-used institute of enhanced cooperation, 11 Member States, including Germany and France, have decided to carry on with the proposal. The UK, which hosts a large number of financial houses in the City, strongly opposes the FTT, more specifically some of its elements that may have extraterritorial impacts. According to the FTT proposal, which should be informally approved by the FTT-11 ministers on Monday now that the EU Court rejected the UK appeal, there should be a levy of 0.1% on bonds and shares transactions and 0.01% on derivatives transactions. Estimates say that such tax could bring €30-35 billion to the FTT-11 budgets. However, some say the EU GDP could drop by 0.3% following the introduction of the FTT.

For more, click here and here.

Members of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic