EP votes to reduce traveller allowances by 50%

The Parliament's report calls for the Council to reduce traveller allowances by 50% (i.e. 5 litres of spirit drinks, 10 litres of intermediate products, 45 litres of wines and 55 litres of beer) and rejects the possibility that private individuals have alcoholic beverages transported on their behalf from another EU Member State and still be exempted from paying taxes in the country where the goods will be consumed.

The report approved today goes against the Commission and the rapporteur's position (Ms Astrid Lulling) and constitutes an unexpected victory for Public Health.

MEPs have sent today a clear message to the Council: Free movement in the single market cannot serve as a pretext for avoiding the payment of excise duties, particularly when these respond to public health requirements.

Note: The proposal from the Commission needs to be approved by the Council acting unanimously and after consulting the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee (article 93 EC Treaty).

Background information

According to current legislation (Dir. 92/12/EEC), individuals are entitled to bring home alcoholic beverages which have been bought tax paid in another EU MS without incurring further charges, provided the goods are transported by the individuals themselves and that they are for personal use.

One of the criteria Member States must take account to establish whether these goods are intended for personal use, is the quantity of the products.

The Directive from 1992 establishes that Member States may lay down guide levels and that these may not be lower than:

• 10 l of spirit drinks
• 20 l of intermediate products
• 90 l of wines (including a maximum of 60 l of sparkling wines)
• 110 l of beer

This is what we know as traveller allowances. It means that if a private individual brings into an EU country alcoholic beverages above these limits, he or she will have to pay taxes in the country where the goods are going to be consumed (see articles 8 and 9 Dir. 92/12/EEC).

What the Commission was proposing was that this rule should also apply when the private individual had the excise goods transported by a third party on their behalf (see article 30 of the Commission's proposal[1]).

This would mean that private individuals from countries with high excise duties could, via internet or telephone, buy cheap alcoholic beverages in other EU states and have them delivered to their door, while only the duty levied in the country of purchase is paid.

The text of the Commission was also proposing to scrap the quantity guide levels mentioned above. Paragraph 2 of article 30 of the proposal established that, in order to determine whether the excise goods are intended for personal use, Member States should take account of the quantity of the excise goods but it did not propose any guide levels as did the Directive from 1992.

The report approved today by the plenary of the Parliament constitutes a victory for public health in that it rejects the possibility of private individuals having alcoholic beverages transported on their behalf ; it also establishes that for the purposes of determining whether the imported goods are intended for private use, Member States may lay down guide levels that shall be no less than:

• 5 litres of spirit drinks;
• 10 litres of intermediate products;
• 45 litres of wine (including a maximum of 30 litres of sparkling wine);
• 55 litres of beer.

For more information

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp?id=5605642

Text of the Commission's proposal
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0078:REV2:EN:PDF

To watch the video recording of the plenary session
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/wps-europarl-internet/faces/vod/player.jsp?date=20081117

Related articles Proposal for Council Directive concerning general arrangement of excise duty http://www.eurocare.org/press/newsletter/march_2008/news_from_the_european_union/proposal_for_council_directive_concerning_general_arrangement_of_excise_duty

[1]Article 30 1. Excise duty on excise goods acquired by private individuals for personal use and transported from one Member State to another by them shall be charged only in the Member State in which the excise goods are acquired. As regards excise goods other than manufactured tobacco acquired by private individuals, the first subparagraph shall also apply in cases where the goods are transported on their behalf. Taxation in the Member State of acquisition shall also apply to excise goods dispatched by one private individual to another without any payment, direct or indirect. 2. To determine whether the excise goods referred to in paragraph 1 are intended for personal use, Member States shall take account at least of the following: (a) the commercial status of the holder of the excise goods and his reasons for holding them; (b) the place where the excise goods are located or, if appropriate, the mode of transport used; (c) any document relating to the excise goods; (d) the nature of the excise goods; (e) the quantity of the excise goods.