Surprise in the Senate on December 3rd. As part of the review of the 2010 Finance Bill, and against the advice of the government, Senators passed an amendment that introduces a new tax on cosmetics. It remains to be seen whether this provision will be retained in the final text..;
4 December 2009 The amendment voted at the beginning of December 2009 by the senators stipulates that cosmetic products placed on the French market will be subject to an annual tax. The rate of this tax is set at 0.25% of annual turnover, once it reaches 763,000 euros. The revenues from this tax will be collected by the Afssaps, the French Health Products Safety Agency. A provision motivated by the desire to increase the efficiency of the Agency, and explained by the Senate as follows:"…". Since 2007 and in application of the community directives, the Afssaps has been supervising the evaluation of the quality and safety of cosmetic products. For these missions, it has internal and external experts, teams of inspectors, analytical laboratories and can take animal health measures in the event of a risk to public health. In addition, the Agency shall organise a vigilance system to monitor adverse reactions resulting from the use of cosmetic products. As such, it receives no income, even though drugs and devices are taxed for its benefit. This amendment seeks to remedy what appears to be inequity. Furthermore, it is important that the proceeds of the tax can be used to increase the …
