Press Release: Commission requests the United Kingdom to end discrimination of foreign charities

The European Commission has sent the United Kingdom a formal request to end discrimination of foreign charities. The United Kingdom allows tax relief for gifts to charities, but only if they are established in the UK. Charities in other Member States are excluded from the relief and the Commission considers that this discrimination is contrary to the EC Treaty. The request is in the form of a ‘reasoned opinion’ under Article 226 of the EC Treaty. If the United Kingdom does not reply satisfactorily to the reasoned opinion within two months the Commission may refer the matter to the European Court of Justice.