Campaigners celebrate extension on Government sports nutrition VAT consultation and call for plans to be dropped
26 April 2012. Campaigners are celebrating the extension of a public consultation into Treasury plans to introduce VAT on some sports nutrition products, but have called for the proposals to be dropped altogether.
Under plans announced during the Budget, VAT is to be introduced on some sports nutrition products from 1 October. The Government had originally announced plans to hold a shortened consultation of just six weeks on the proposals, leading to accusations by consumer groups and leading sports nutrition businesses that Ministers were denying consumers a voice and were attempting to sneak the plans through while Parliament was in recess.
The Government has now extended the length of the consultation by two weeks in the face of a campaign launched by the UK Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (UKSSNA). Alliance members have welcomed the decision, but have insisted that the consultation should meet Government standards of 12 weeks in length and that the plans should be dropped altogether.
Chris Whitehouse, Campaign Director for the UKSSNA, said:
“Ministers have now seen firsthand the level of consumer and business opposition to what is an unwelcome health tax on consumers in the year of the Olympics. It defies logic that the Government should be attempting to penalise consumers with an interest in health, while products such as Jaffa Cakes and drinking chocolate will continue to be zero-rated for VAT.
“The decision to extend the consultation is the direct result of the huge number of consumers who have made their feelings known and have either written or sent postcards to their MPs. The Government should see that the writing is on the wall and should drop these unnecessary proposals.”
The UKSSNA is calling on consumers to visit its website (www.novatonsportsdrinks.com) and to download and send postcards and letters to their MP, expressing opposition to the VAT plans.
The UKSSNA is also on Twitter at @NoSportDrinkVAT
UK Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance
The UKSSNA is an alliance of UK-based sports nutrition companies that produce and distribute sports nutrition drinks. The Alliance was formed on 29th March 2012 to campaign against the Government’s decision to introduce VAT at a rate of 20 percent on sports nutrition products from 1 October 2012.
Members include Atlantic Multipower, Bodybuilding Warehouse, BodyTemple, BulkPowders, Cellucor, CLF, Consumers for Health Choice, Energy Active Ltd, Glanbia, Health Food Manufacturers Association, HighFive, Kinetica, MaxiMuscle, MyProtein, National Association of Health Stores, GNC, Holland and Barrett, Performance Nutrition, Powerhouse-Fitness, Predator Nutrition, QNT UK, Reflex Nutrition, Sci-Mx, Smart-Tec PhD Nutrition Ltd, US Nutrition, USN, and Weider Publishing.
For further information or comment from Chris Whitehouse or Robin Holiday, please contact Chris Rogers on 020 7793 2536 / 07720 054189, or email Chris.Rogers@whitehouseconsulting.co.uk
