DUTCH CONSUMERS/INDUSTRY SEE VEG OILS TAX THREAT Dutch consumers and food processors would be hit hard by the proposed EC tax on oils and fats, Dick de Bruyn, chairman of the commodity board for margarine, fats and oils, MVO, said at the annual meeting. The Dutch are the second largest consumers of margarine and fourth largest consumers of vegetable oils in the EC. The fiercely contested tax would be a levy on consumers and steeply increase the costs of industries such as potato processing and cake and biscuit manufacturing, de Bruyn said. "A move by these industries to countries outside the EC cannot be ruled out," he added. De Bruyn said the tax on vegetable and marine oils and fats would be wide open to fraud, difficult to police, and hugely expensive administratively. He also said the proposed tax contravened not only article three of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the Lome Convention, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) guidelines, but also the EC's own Treaty. The proposed tax would not only be inflationary but also have consequences for employment and investment, he added.