Proposal for a Council Decision amending Decision 2007/659/EC as regards its period of application and the annual quota benefiting from a reduced rate of excise duty

Council Decision 2007/659/EC of 9 October 2007 authorises France to apply to 'traditional' rum produced in its overseas departments and sold on the French mainland a reduced rate of excise duty which may be lower than the minimum rate of excise duty set by Directive 92/84/EEC but not more than 50% lower than the standard national excise duty on alcohol. The reduction in excise duty is limited to an annual quota of 108,000 hl of pure alcohol. The derogation expires on 31 December 2012.

On 29 June 2010, the French authorities sent the Commission the report provided for in Article 4 of Decision 2007/659/EC. The report contains two requests. First, the French authorities ask that the annual quota be increased from 108,000 hectolitres to 125,000 hectolitres of pure alcohol to reflect developments on the market for rum in the EU. Secondly, they request an extension by one year, i.e. to 31 December 2013, of the period of application of Decision 2007/659/EC so as to bring it into line with that of the State aid decision on the same issue taken by the Commission on 27 June 2007 (State aid No N 530/2006).

EUR-Lex: COM(2011)577: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2011:577:FIN

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