Question reference: S6W-07092
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 9 March 2022
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Current status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses in the SME sector it anticipates will cease doing business in Scotland as a result of any additional costs of compliance with the proposed Deposit Return Scheme, such as the bar code and labelling requirements.
Answer
Participation of small producers is vital to the success of the scheme and we believe we have taken their needs into consideration in designing DRS.
We have consulted extensively with businesses of all sizes that will be affected by the implementation of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme. We are not aware that any producers have decided to cease doing business in Scotland, although we are aware that some have expressed concerns about whether they will continue to sell their products in Scotland.
This is one of the reasons why we have applied a de minimis for the SEPA registration fee. This will remove a cost for businesses operating below the current VAT threshold, benefiting around 1,600 of the more than 4,000 anticipated producers selling into the Scottish market