DUTCH CONSUMERS/INDUSTRY SEE VEG OILS TAX THREAT
  Dutch consumers and food processors
  would be hit hard by the proposed EC tax on oils and fats, Dick
  de Bruyn, chairman of the commodity board for margarine, fats
  and oils, MVO, said at the annual meeting.
      The Dutch are the second largest consumers of margarine and
  fourth largest consumers of vegetable oils in the EC.
      The fiercely contested tax would be a levy on consumers and
  steeply increase the costs of industries such as potato
  processing and cake and biscuit manufacturing, de Bruyn said.
      "A move by these industries to countries outside the EC
  cannot be ruled out," he added.
      De Bruyn said the tax on vegetable and marine oils and fats
  would be wide open to fraud, difficult to police, and hugely
  expensive administratively.
      He also said the proposed tax contravened not only article
  three of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the
  Lome Convention, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture
  Organization (FAO) guidelines, but also the EC's own Treaty.
      The proposed tax would not only be inflationary but also
  have consequences for employment and investment, he added.
  

