32. Calls on the Commission to propose a revision of Directive 2006/112/EC in order to introduce a new category of electronically provided cultural content services which would benefit from a reduced rate of VAT; suggests that cultural works and services sold online - such as digital books - should benefit from the same preferential treatment as comparable products in traditional form such as paperbacks, and should therefore be subject to a reduced VAT rate; considers, in this context, that the application of the reduced VAT rate for digital publications could encourage the development of legal offers and significantly boost the attrac ...[+++]tiveness of digital platforms;

32. Calls on the Commission to propose a revision of Directive 2006/112 in order to introduce a new category of electronically provided cultural content services which would benefit from a reduced rate of VAT; suggests that cultural works and services sold online - such as digital books - should benefit from the same preferential treatment as comparable products in traditional form such as paperbacks, and should therefore be subject to a reduced VAT rate; considers, in this context, that the application of the reduced VAT rate for digital publications could encourage the development of legal offers and significantly boost the attractiv ...[+++]eness of digital platforms;

RECALLS the ECOFIN Council Conclusions of 10 March 2009, which settled the issue of: “the possibility, for the Member States that so wish, of applying reduced VAT rates in certain sectors” and “at the same time acknowledged that reduced VAT rates may, depending on the circumstances, have positive and negative economic effects, so that more efficient alternative solutions should always be considered before a Member State decides to use the option to apply reduced VAT rates”.

The draftsman shares the opinion of the Commission and wishes to see the application of a reduced rate of excise duty, which may fall below the minimum rate but shall not be set more than 50 per cent lower than the standard national excise duty rate for Portugal, to beer produced in the autonomous region of Madeira by independent breweries whose total annual production does not exceed 300 000 hectolitres; production in excess of 200 000 hectolitres will benefit from the reduced only to the extent it is consumed locally.

Excise duty: Commission proposal to allow a lower rate of excise duty on spirits produced and consumed in Madeira and the Azores

Excise duty: Commission proposes to allow reduced rate on rum from French overseas departments