Part 5: Excise Duties and other taxes Section 48: Aggregates levy - restoration of exemptions Background note
Aggregates levy is a tax on the commercial exploitation of rock, sand and gravel in the UK. It was introduced on 1 April 2002.
	In response to action taken by the British Aggregates Association, in 2012 the European General Court annulled the European Commission’s 2002 State aid approval for a number of exemptions from the levy. These exemptions were therefore suspended from 1 April 2014 while the Commission undertook an investigation. The previous government made a commitment to reinstate all exemptions found to be lawful.
	The Commission completed its investigation and published its decision on 27 March 2015. The Commission was broadly content that the exemptions and the exemptions under investigation were lawful, with the exception of part of the shale exemption.
	The effect of the commencement provisions is that, once the legislation comes into force, businesses will be able to claim a refund of any levy paid since 1 April 2014 (with interest) on materials for which the exemption was found by the Commission to be lawful. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will publish a Revenue & Customs Brief in July 2015 to provide more information on the repayment process.