Press Release: The Commission is about to investigate the reductions in vehicle excise duties in favour of road hauliers in France, Italy and the Netherlands

The European Commission decided to launch a formal investigation procedure, on 11.4.01, into the support given to road hauliers in the form of reduced duty levels on diesel fuel adopted by the Dutch, French and Italian Governments during the oil crisis of Autumn 2000. The launching of this procedure was justified by the need to obtain a maximum amount of information in order to establish that these measures did not lead to any discrimination or distortion of competition.