Imported snacks will no longer be saddled with a 59% toll fee, parliament has resolved, despite reported protestations from the domestic snack industry.
RÚV reports that with the toll now stricken from the law, Icelandic consumers will now be able to buy these snacks at their original price. This will make these products very competitive, as there is already a domestic snack industry. As to be expected, some of them are none too pleased with parliament’s decision.
“It might be possible to move the company to Norway, start manufacturing there and then export to Iceland without tolls,” Sigurjón Dagbjartsson, the CEO of Iðnmark, told reporters. “If we move our company overseas, then we move onto a giant market while being able to sell to Iceland without tolls. But not if we’re situated in Iceland.”
As reported, the Economic Affairs and Trade Committee had originally recommended to abolish the 59% tax on imported snacks to Iceland. However, after receiving considerable pressure from domestic snacks manufacturers, they reversed their decision.
Independence Party MP Sigríður Á. Andersen does not believe Icelandic snacks producers need any form of protectionism to remain competitive.
“Those who I’ve spoken to [within my party] view this very positively,” she said. “I think everyone agrees that we need to coordinate this customs toll jungle, one can certainly call it, that rests on these snacks products. People agree with simplifying it, and to my mind all customs tolls on these products should drop to zero as if they are already all the same products.”
As such, readers should see drastically reduced prices on Doritos and Lays on the shelves in the new year.
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