Brussels, 26/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - In a case sent by the European Commission, the European Court of Justice found France guilty on Thursday 25 October (Case C-164/11) of failing to transpose on time (by 21 December 2003) measures from the EU Directive on the taxation of electricity and fuel (Directive 2003/96/EC) into its electricity taxation system.
The transition period for transposition of the directive ended on 1 January 2009 and the Commission sent France a reasoned opinion (warning letter) that it should comply by 22 May 2010, but it was not until December 2010 that France changed its tax laws. Before then, the French tax system allowed local authorities and regions to amend the increases in minimum taxation for electricity, which contravenes the rulings of the EU directive, which sets a uniform tax for the whole country and can only be altered under certain conditions. The French system led to different levels of electricity taxation in different towns and regions of France.
In the ruling, the Court of Justice pointed out that France was late in its transposition of the directive and therefore the Commission's complaint (lodged on 5 April 2011) is justified. The Court of Justice rejected France's request for the impact of the ruling to be limited in time. France argued that retroactive application of the ruling and requests for full or total reimbursement of too much tax paid before the date of the ruling would upset the financing of local authorities and regions because the tax on electricity is an important source of income for them. This was rejected by the Court of Justice. (FG/transl.fl)