Brexit: VAT on tampons and sanitary napkins abolished in the United Kingdom

On the 1st day of the entry into force of Brexit, the United Kingdom announces the abolition of VAT on feminine hygiene products.

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The abolition of VAT on tampons and sanitary napkins goes into effect on Friday January 1 in the UK.

The government emphasizes that the measure is made possible by the country's exit from the European Union.

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From our correspondent in London

,

Muriel Delcroix

Women's rights groups were the first to welcome the abolition of what had been dubbed the “tampon tax”, the tax on tampons.

According to these activists, this deletion puts an end to a “sexist tax” which classified hygienic products as luxury items, non-essential and conveyed a negative message on the status of women.

This decision is also political and allows Boris Johnson's government to highlight one of the benefits of Brexit: indeed with the expiration of the transition period, the United Kingdom is no longer required by European laws to impose a tax. of 5% minimum on hygienic products.

But in reality periodic protections have already been distributed in public schools and universities in the United Kingdom for a year and to patients who need it in public hospitals.

And Scotland went further in November, as MPs passed

a law allowing free access to hygienic protection

, a first in the world on this scale. 

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  • United Kingdom

  • Women

  • Health and medicine

  • Womens rights