The Senator spoke out about the dangers to the industry, following a States debate earlier this week. And he said comments made by Economic Scrutiny panel chairman Deputy Geoff Southern that the risk to the future of fulfilment was minimal were misleading. ‘I cannot disagree more strongly with the assertion that the risk is minimal. There is a still a strong possibility that lobbying from UK retailers could lead to the UK government taking action to reduce low-value consignment relief,’ he said. He expressed concern that a group representing small UK retailers was seeking a judicial review of the legal framework that allows CDs and DVDs bought online through Jersey-owned websites to be exported to the UK free of VAT. Last February, the Senator acted to outlaw what were termed ‘pick and pack’ operations run by UK-owned retailers such as Tesco. A total of 17 such companies, which were using Jersey Post-owned company Offshore Solutions to send out purchases made from their websites, are no longer trading from Jersey.
