Duitsland voor Hof van Justitie gedaagd inzake lage belasting op shag (en)

The European Commission has decided to refer Germany to the Court of Justice for applying a lower rate of excise duty to rolls of tobacco from which consumers can make their own cigarettes. The Commission believes this practice breaches the EU's Excise Duty Directives, which require these products to be taxed like cigarettes, and distorts competition by allowing alternatives to ready-made cigarettes to enjoy lower taxes.

Directive 92/79/EEC on the approximation of taxes on cigarettes creates a Community system for harmonising excise duties on cigarettes.

Article 4(1) of Directive 95/59/EEC on taxes other than turnover taxes which affect the consumption of manufactured tobacco harmonises the definition of "cigarettes". This Article specifies inter alia that cigarettes include "rolls of tobacco which, by simple non-industrial handling, are inserted into cigarette-paper tubes".

In the interests of the Internal Market, this legislation requires the structure of cigarette taxation to be the same in all Member States. The system chosen is described in Article 8 of Directive 95/59/EEC: it is a mixed system comprising a specific amount per cigarette, plus an ad valorem component in proportion to the retail price.

The German tax authorities, however, consider that rolls of tobacco from which consumers can make cigarettes by inserting them, by non-industrial handling, into cigarette-paper tubes equipped with filters and sold separately are not cigarettes (within the meaning of Article 4(1)(b) of Directive 95/59/EEC) but fine-cut tobacco, which is less heavily taxed than cigarettes. This leads to a distortion of competition, since it gives the rolls of tobacco a fiscal advantage over the ready-made cigarettes with which they compete.

For the latest information on proceedings concerning all Member States, consult the following site:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/sgb/droit_com/index_en.htm