EU Halts Controversial Phone Tax Plan

The European Union decided on Wednesday to halt the controversial plan of introducing new taxes on cellphones. The plan would have raised phone prices for consumers and further squeezed already shrinking phone sales on the continent.

Sweden, currently holding the presidency of the EU, said a large majority of the countries voted for the duty-free treatment of cellphones to continue in the Customs Code Committee’s meeting. This follows after a formal proposal sent in December last year to reclassify many phones as “multi-functional devices,” which would have let to 14 percent tax on phones with TV receivers and 3.7 percent on navigation-enabled phones.

Nokia was the first maker to respond; “Nokia is very pleased that the Commission is taking this view and that the uncertainty surrounding the issue is now being removed.”

[Via Reuters]