Proposal for a Council Implementing Decision authorising the United Kingdom to apply differentiated levels of taxation to motor fuels in certain geographical areas pursuant to Directive 2003/96/EC

Taxation of energy products and electricity in the Union is governed by Council Directive 2003/96/EC (hereafter referred to as the “Energy Taxation Directive” or the “Directive”). Pursuant to Article 19(1) of the Directive the Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission, may authorise any Member State to introduce further exemptions or reductions in the level of taxation for specific policy considerations.

The objective of this proposal is to allow the UK to introduce a reduced rate of excise duty on motor fuels used as propellant (namely unleaded petrol and gas oil) in certain geographical areas defined in the request of the UK by references to postcodes.

According to the information provided by the UK the price of fuel in the areas which are to benefit from the measure is on average £100 (€128.5) higher per 1,000 litres than the average in the rest of the UK. Higher prices in these areas are due to higher transport and distribution costs, and low population. The objective of the measure is to offer some mitigation against the high costs of motor fuels in the specified areas.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)4: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:004:FIN

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