E-Malt.com News article: 509

France's national assembly voted for the tax rise on high alcohol beer at the end of last year. The EU Commission is seeking an explanation from France on that decision. In a letter to the French authorities, Frits Bolkestein, the European commissioner for the Internal Market and Taxation, highlighted his worry over the impact of a €200 per hectolitre increase in taxation on beers with an alcohol content of more than 8.5 degrees.

The over-taxation is viewed as hitting imported beers particularly hard. While waiting for France to reply, the Commission could instigate proceedings for a breach of the trade treaty which prohibits the fiscal discrimination against goods which are imported from other member states, sources reported.


14 January, 2003