Chemical tax - tax on certain goods containing chemicals
IT&Telekomföretagen has commented on a report from the Swedish Chemicals Agency, SOU:2015:30.
The Chemicals Tax Inquiry has been tasked with analyzing the need for new economic instruments in the chemicals field and, if the need for such instruments is deemed to exist, proposing the type of economic instrument that is most likely to be effective and cost-effective. The main purpose of these economic instruments should be to reduce the presence of, or the risk of exposure to, substances that are hazardous to health and the environment from different product groups.
The inquiry has chosen to develop proposals to reduce the presence of hazardous substances in the human home environment. Studies have shown that common sources of hazardous substances in the human home environment are flame retardants in electronics and phthalates in flooring and other construction products containing polymers of vinyl chloride, PVC.
The inquiry has produced proposals for two excise duties. One is a tax on certain electronics and the other is a tax on flooring materials, wall coverings and roof coverings made of vinyl chloride polymers. The report also proposes increased market surveillance of electronics, construction products, toys and other consumer goods to reduce the presence of banned flame retardants, phthalates or other banned substances in people's home environment.
Tax on certain electronics
The proposed tax on certain electronics has been designed to tax those goods that are frequently used in the home environment and thus pose a risk of introducing certain hazardous substances into the human home environment. The goods to be taxed are defined using the tariff classification in CN codes. They include stoves, microwave ovens, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, washing machines, tumble dryers, computers, laptops, tablets, vacuum cleaners, mobile phones, ordinary telephones, cordless telephones, routers, wireless networks, CD players, DVD players, radios, televisions, TV diodes, computer monitors and games consoles. The tax will amount to SEK 8 per kilogram of goods for white goods and SEK 120 per kilogram of goods for other electronics. However, the maximum tax amount will be SEK 320 per product. It shall be possible to deduct 50% of the tax for electronics that do not contain additive compounds of bromine chlorine or phosphorus. For electronics that do not contain these additive compounds or reactively added bromine or chlorine compounds, a deduction of 75% is instead allowed. Since all electronics contain more or less hazardous chemicals, it will not be possible to deduct the entire tax.
Impact of increased market surveillance
Increased resources for the Swedish Chemicals Agency's market surveillance are expected to result in greatly increased inspection and other control of hazardous substances in articles, both in the form of significantly more inspections carried out and in the form of many more articles analyzed. This is expected to lead to a significant increase in the detection of banned substances in articles. This is expected to reduce the presence of banned substances in consumer goods.