BETA


2018/0173(CNS) Alcohol and alcoholic beverages: harmonisation of the structures of excise duties

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead ECON DORFMANN Herbert (icon: PPE PPE), LUDVIGSSON Olle (icon: S&D S&D), SWINBURNE Kay (icon: ECR ECR), TREMOSA I BALCELLS Ramon (icon: ALDE ALDE), SCOTT CATO Molly (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE)
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
TFEU 113

Events

2020/08/05
   Final act published in Official Journal
2020/07/29
   EP/CSL - Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
2018/11/21
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2018/10/24
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2018/10/24
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted by 556 votes to 51, with 23 abstentions, under a special legislative procedure (Parliament’s consultation), a legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council directive amending Directive 92/83/EEC on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages.

The European Parliament approved the Commission proposal subject to an amendment to refer to the judgment of 17 May 2018 in the Kompania Piwowarska case, by which the Court of Justice ruled on the calculation of the degree Plato.

According to the amended text, all the ingredients of the beer, with the exception of those added after the completion of fermentation, shall be taken into account for the purposes of measuring the degree Plato.

Documents
2018/10/17
   ESC - Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report
Documents
2018/10/04
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading
Details

The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs adopted, under a special legislative procedure (Parliament’s consultation), the report by Miguel VIEGAS (GUE/NGL, PT) on the proposal for a Council directive amending Directive 92/83/EEC on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages.

The committee recommended that the European Parliament approve the Commission proposal without amendments.

As a reminder, Directive 92/83/EEC on the structures of excise duty on alcohol and alcoholic beverages sets out the common rules on the structures of excise duty applied to alcohol and alcoholic beverages, including beer and wine. It defines and classifies the different types of alcohol and alcoholic beverages, according to their characteristics, and provides a legal framework for reduced rates, exemptions, and derogations in some sectors, like intermediate products used in wine preparation in certain regions of the Kingdom of Spain.

The Directive has not kept pace with the challenges and opportunities offered by new technologies and developments within the alcohol industry . Some problems have been identified and inefficiencies persist, causing possible distortions of the internal market.

Therefore, the Directive was identified by the Commission for an evaluation under the Commission’s Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT).

The main areas on which the study and impact assessment were focused included the following: (i) dysfunctions in the application of exemptions for denatured alcohol; (ii) dysfunctions in the classification of certain alcoholic beverages; (iii) dysfunctional application of reduced rates for small producers and low strength alcoholic beverages; (iv) unclear provisions to measure degrees Plato of sweetened or flavoured beer.

Documents
2018/10/01
   EP - Vote in committee
2018/09/14
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2018/07/15
   RO_SENATE - Contribution
Documents
2018/07/02
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2018/05/25
   EC - Document attached to the procedure
2018/05/25
   EC - Document attached to the procedure
2018/05/25
   EC - Legislative proposal published
Details

PURPOSE: to amend Directive 92/83/EEC on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Directive.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council adopts the act after consulting the European Parliament but without being obliged to follow its opinion.

BACKGROUND: Directive 92/83/EEC on the structures of excise duty on alcohol and alcoholic beverages sets out the common rules on the structures of excise duty applied to alcohol and alcoholic beverages.

The Directive has not kept pace with the challenges and opportunities offered by new technologies and developments within the alcohol industry.

Some provisions of Council Directive 92/83/EEC are outdated and unclear and result in unnecessarily burdensome administrative procedures for both tax administrations and economic operators. The costs for economic operators of complying with those procedures have the effect of restricting the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in trade in alcohol and alcoholic beverages in the internal market.

The source of the current complications for the excise duty exemption for denatured alcohol, classification of certain alcoholic beverages, status of independent small brewers and measurement of degree Plato lays precisely in the absence of clear rules at EU level.

The majority of Member State administrations have pointed out the need for improving the common definitions and rules of alcohol and alcoholic beverages for excise purposes at EU level.

CONTENT: the proposal aims to amend Council Directive 92/83/EEC in order to improve the regulatory framework to bring benefits to businesses, Member States and citizens.

In concrete terms, the proposal:

clarify the provisions relating to the degrees Plato measurement of beer : all the ingredients of the beer, including those added after fermentation, shall be taken into account for the purposes of measuring the degree Plato; provides for a uniform certificate for small independent breweries across the EU. This will improve the cross border functionality of the existing relief for small breweries; increases the threshold to which reduced rates may be applied to low strength beer from 2.8% to 3.5% so as to encourage brewers to innovate and create new products; introduces a definition of 'cider' . This shall also facilitate the application of reduced rates for independent small cider makers, within the following limits: (i) the reduced rates shall not be applied to undertakings producing more than 15 000 hl of cider per year; (ii) the reduced rates, which may fall below the minimum rate, shall not be set more than 50% below the standard national rate of excise duty for cider; clarifies the provisions relating to exemptions for denatured alcohol and to increase the legal certainty for economic operators and Member State authorities; deletes a provision which currently allows the UK to provide exemptions for certain products which are no longer exempted in the UK.

Documents

Votes

A8-0307/2018 - Miguel Viegas - Proposition de la Commission 24/10/2018 13:37:49.000 #

2018/10/24 Outcome: +: 556, -: 51, 0: 23
DE ES FR PL RO GB IT PT BE CZ AT NL BG SE EL HU FI SK HR SI LT IE MT LV LU CY EE DK ??
Total
80
48
65
45
26
56
59
19
20
18
16
23
14
19
14
16
12
12
9
8
9
7
6
6
5
5
4
5
2
icon: PPE PPE
180

United Kingdom PPE

2

Belgium PPE

3

Greece PPE

1

Lithuania PPE

1
3

Luxembourg PPE

2

Cyprus PPE

1

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1
icon: S&D S&D
159

Czechia S&D

3

Netherlands S&D

3

Greece S&D

1

Croatia S&D

2

Slovenia S&D

For (1)

1

Ireland S&D

For (1)

1

Malta S&D

3

Latvia S&D

1

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1

Cyprus S&D

2

Estonia S&D

For (1)

1

Denmark S&D

1
icon: ALDE ALDE
57

Germany ALDE

3

Romania ALDE

3

United Kingdom ALDE

1

Portugal ALDE

1

Austria ALDE

For (1)

1

Bulgaria ALDE

3

Sweden ALDE

2
3

Croatia ALDE

2

Slovenia ALDE

For (1)

1

Ireland ALDE

For (1)

1

Luxembourg ALDE

For (1)

1

Estonia ALDE

2
icon: ECR ECR
60

Romania ECR

2

Italy ECR

2

Czechia ECR

2

Netherlands ECR

2

Bulgaria ECR

1

Sweden ECR

2

Greece ECR

For (1)

1
2

Croatia ECR

For (1)

1

Lithuania ECR

1

Denmark ECR

Against (1)

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
50

Italy Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Belgium Verts/ALE

2

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Netherlands Verts/ALE

2

Hungary Verts/ALE

2

Finland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Slovenia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Lithuania Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
41

Italy GUE/NGL

2

Czechia GUE/NGL

2

Netherlands GUE/NGL

2

Sweden GUE/NGL

Against (1)

1

Finland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Ireland GUE/NGL

2

Cyprus GUE/NGL

2

Denmark GUE/NGL

For (1)

1
icon: NI NI
16

Germany NI

Against (1)

1

France NI

Abstain (1)

1

Poland NI

Against (1)

2

Romania NI

1

United Kingdom NI

Against (2)

2

Hungary NI

Against (1)

1

Denmark NI

1

NI

Against (1)

Abstain (1)

2
icon: ENF ENF
30

Germany ENF

Abstain (1)

1

Poland ENF

Against (1)

1

Belgium ENF

Against (1)

1

Netherlands ENF

4
icon: EFDD EFDD
35

Germany EFDD

Against (1)

1

France EFDD

Abstain (1)

5

Poland EFDD

1

Czechia EFDD

Against (1)

1

Lithuania EFDD

Against (1)

1

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

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events/5/docs/0/url
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  • date: 2018-09-14T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE626.675 title: PE626.675 type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 2018-10-17T00:00:00 docs: title: CES3104/2018 type: Economic and Social Committee: opinion, report body: ESC
  • date: 2018-11-21T00:00:00 docs: url: /oeil/spdoc.do?i=31587&j=0&l=en title: SP(2018)755 type: Commission response to text adopted in plenary
  • date: 2018-07-16T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.connefof.europarl.europa.eu/connefof/app/exp/COM(2018)0334 title: COM(2018)0334 type: Contribution body: RO_SENATE
events
  • date: 2018-05-25T00:00:00 type: Legislative proposal published body: EC docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2018/0334/COM_COM(2018)0334_EN.pdf title: COM(2018)0334 url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2018&nu_doc=0334 title: EUR-Lex summary: PURPOSE: to amend Directive 92/83/EEC on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages. PROPOSED ACT: Council Directive. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council adopts the act after consulting the European Parliament but without being obliged to follow its opinion. BACKGROUND: Directive 92/83/EEC on the structures of excise duty on alcohol and alcoholic beverages sets out the common rules on the structures of excise duty applied to alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The Directive has not kept pace with the challenges and opportunities offered by new technologies and developments within the alcohol industry. Some provisions of Council Directive 92/83/EEC are outdated and unclear and result in unnecessarily burdensome administrative procedures for both tax administrations and economic operators. The costs for economic operators of complying with those procedures have the effect of restricting the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in trade in alcohol and alcoholic beverages in the internal market. The source of the current complications for the excise duty exemption for denatured alcohol, classification of certain alcoholic beverages, status of independent small brewers and measurement of degree Plato lays precisely in the absence of clear rules at EU level. The majority of Member State administrations have pointed out the need for improving the common definitions and rules of alcohol and alcoholic beverages for excise purposes at EU level. CONTENT: the proposal aims to amend Council Directive 92/83/EEC in order to improve the regulatory framework to bring benefits to businesses, Member States and citizens. In concrete terms, the proposal: clarify the provisions relating to the degrees Plato measurement of beer : all the ingredients of the beer, including those added after fermentation, shall be taken into account for the purposes of measuring the degree Plato; provides for a uniform certificate for small independent breweries across the EU. This will improve the cross border functionality of the existing relief for small breweries; increases the threshold to which reduced rates may be applied to low strength beer from 2.8% to 3.5% so as to encourage brewers to innovate and create new products; introduces a definition of 'cider' . This shall also facilitate the application of reduced rates for independent small cider makers, within the following limits: (i) the reduced rates shall not be applied to undertakings producing more than 15 000 hl of cider per year; (ii) the reduced rates, which may fall below the minimum rate, shall not be set more than 50% below the standard national rate of excise duty for cider; clarifies the provisions relating to exemptions for denatured alcohol and to increase the legal certainty for economic operators and Member State authorities; deletes a provision which currently allows the UK to provide exemptions for certain products which are no longer exempted in the UK.
  • date: 2018-07-02T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2018-10-01T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2018-10-04T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2018-0307&language=EN title: A8-0307/2018 summary: The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs adopted, under a special legislative procedure (Parliament’s consultation), the report by Miguel VIEGAS (GUE/NGL, PT) on the proposal for a Council directive amending Directive 92/83/EEC on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The committee recommended that the European Parliament approve the Commission proposal without amendments. As a reminder, Directive 92/83/EEC on the structures of excise duty on alcohol and alcoholic beverages sets out the common rules on the structures of excise duty applied to alcohol and alcoholic beverages, including beer and wine. It defines and classifies the different types of alcohol and alcoholic beverages, according to their characteristics, and provides a legal framework for reduced rates, exemptions, and derogations in some sectors, like intermediate products used in wine preparation in certain regions of the Kingdom of Spain. The Directive has not kept pace with the challenges and opportunities offered by new technologies and developments within the alcohol industry . Some problems have been identified and inefficiencies persist, causing possible distortions of the internal market. Therefore, the Directive was identified by the Commission for an evaluation under the Commission’s Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT). The main areas on which the study and impact assessment were focused included the following: (i) dysfunctions in the application of exemptions for denatured alcohol; (ii) dysfunctions in the classification of certain alcoholic beverages; (iii) dysfunctional application of reduced rates for small producers and low strength alcoholic beverages; (iv) unclear provisions to measure degrees Plato of sweetened or flavoured beer.
  • date: 2018-10-24T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=31587&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
  • date: 2018-10-24T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P8-TA-2018-0415 title: T8-0415/2018 summary: The European Parliament adopted by 556 votes to 51, with 23 abstentions, under a special legislative procedure (Parliament’s consultation), a legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council directive amending Directive 92/83/EEC on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The European Parliament approved the Commission proposal subject to an amendment to refer to the judgment of 17 May 2018 in the Kompania Piwowarska case, by which the Court of Justice ruled on the calculation of the degree Plato. According to the amended text, all the ingredients of the beer, with the exception of those added after the completion of fermentation, shall be taken into account for the purposes of measuring the degree Plato.
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  • PURPOSE: to amend Directive 92/83/EEC on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages.

    PROPOSED ACT: Council Directive.

    ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council adopts the act after consulting the European Parliament but without being obliged to follow its opinion.

    BACKGROUND: Directive 92/83/EEC on the structures of excise duty on alcohol and alcoholic beverages sets out the common rules on the structures of excise duty applied to alcohol and alcoholic beverages.

    The Directive has not kept pace with the challenges and opportunities offered by new technologies and developments within the alcohol industry.

    Some provisions of Council Directive 92/83/EEC are outdated and unclear and result in unnecessarily burdensome administrative procedures for both tax administrations and economic operators. The costs for economic operators of complying with those procedures have the effect of restricting the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in trade in alcohol and alcoholic beverages in the internal market.

    The source of the current complications for the excise duty exemption for denatured alcohol, classification of certain alcoholic beverages, status of independent small brewers and measurement of degree Plato lays precisely in the absence of clear rules at EU level.

    The majority of Member State administrations have pointed out the need for improving the common definitions and rules of alcohol and alcoholic beverages for excise purposes at EU level. 

    CONTENT: the proposal aims to amend Council Directive 92/83/EEC in order to improve the regulatory framework to bring benefits to businesses, Member States and citizens.

    In concrete terms, the proposal:

    • clarify the provisions relating to the degrees Plato measurement of beer: all the ingredients of the beer, including those added after fermentation, shall be taken into account for the purposes of measuring the degree Plato;
    • provides for a uniform certificate for small independent breweries across the EU. This will improve the cross border functionality of the existing relief for small breweries;
    • increases the threshold to which reduced rates may be applied to low strength beer from 2.8% to 3.5% so as to encourage brewers to innovate and create new products;
    • introduces a definition of 'cider'. This shall also facilitate the application of reduced rates for independent small cider makers, within the following limits: (i) the reduced rates shall not be applied to undertakings producing more than 15 000 hl of cider  per year; (ii) the reduced rates, which may fall below the minimum rate, shall not be set more than 50% below the standard national rate of excise duty for cider;
    • clarifies the provisions relating to exemptions for denatured alcohol and to increase the legal certainty for economic operators and Member State authorities;
    • deletes a provision which currently allows the UK to provide exemptions for certain products which are no longer exempted in the UK.
activities/1/committees/0/shadows
  • group: EPP name: DORFMANN Herbert
  • group: ECR name: SWINBURNE Kay
committees/0/shadows
  • group: EPP name: DORFMANN Herbert
  • group: ECR name: SWINBURNE Kay
activities/1
date
2018-07-02T00:00:00
body
EP
type
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
committees
body: EP responsible: True committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee
ECON/8/13245
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Preparatory phase in Parliament
New
Awaiting committee decision
activities/0/commission/0
DG
Commissioner
MOSCOVICI Pierre
other/0
body
EC
dg
commissioner
MOSCOVICI Pierre
activities/0/docs/0/celexid
CELEX:52018PC0334:EN
activities
  • date: 2018-05-25T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2018/0334/COM_COM(2018)0334_EN.pdf type: Legislative proposal published title: COM(2018)0334 body: EC type: Legislative proposal published commission:
committees
  • body: EP responsible: True committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs committee: ECON
links
other
    procedure
    reference
    2018/0173(CNS)
    instrument
    Directive
    legal_basis
    Treaty on the Functioning of the EU TFEU 113
    stage_reached
    Preparatory phase in Parliament
    summary
    Amending Directive 92/83/EEC
    subtype
    Legislation
    title
    Alcohol and alcoholic beverages: harmonisation of the structures of excise duties
    type
    CNS - Consultation procedure
    subject