Brussels, 19/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Union has authorised the extension, until 2020, of a dispensational tax scheme for traditional rum from the French overseas departments (DOM), the Minister for Overseas France, George Pau-Langevin, announced in a press release on Thursday 18 September.
Pau-Langevin welcomed the outcome of “long negotiations” which “safeguard the production of rum and help to maintain the sugarcane and rum sectors, which are of major economic and social importance in the DOMs”. The sector represents 40,000 direct and indirect jobs, 23 distilleries, 5,500 sugarcane plantations and considerable added value for the agri-food industry, the minister stressed. The College of Commissioners “accepted the Commission's proposal, deeming the tax scheme applied by France to traditional rum compatible with the single market”, she explained. This authorisation follows the Council's decision of 20 February, allowing France to apply a reduced rate of excise on traditional rum produced in overseas departments for a quota of 120,000 hL of pure alcohol, until 31 December 2020 (our translation throughout). (LC)