Plastic Packaging Tax consultation deadline extended

On 11 March, immediately after the annual budget, HM Revenue and Customs launched a public consultation into the proposed Plastic Packaging Tax.

The consultation came after a call for evidence launched in 2018 and specifically considers a range of issues highlighted by respondents to a previous public consultation.

The key issues the current consultation considers are exclusions for imported filled packaging, the proposed tax rate and planned exclusions, such as for medicine packaging, for example.

The deadline for responses was initially set to be 20 May 2020, but this week it has been announced that the deadline will be extended to 20 August 2020, as the Government has acknowledged that many stakeholders they wish to hear from have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

Not necessarily a delay to implementation

Robbie Staniforth, head of policy at Ecosurety commented "It is sensible to give stakeholders more time to consider the proposals outlined, given the current situation. This tax measure needs to be carefully designed to ensure it works as intended. From our analysis so far, there are still many issues to be ironed out." 

"The extension does not necessarily mean a delay to implementation. We hope the extra time for reflection will be utilised by stakeholders to improve the tax so it is truly world-leading when it commences in April 2022."

You can find the full written ministerial statement about the Plastic Packaging Tax and other consultations and calls for evidence published alongside Budget on GOV.UK here.

If you have any questions about the plastic packaging tax consultation, please contact our team.

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