Brussels, 26/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission decided on Thursday 26 May to refer Poland to the Court of Justice of the EU for establishing restrictions in Polish law against certain imported biofuels and raw materials for biofuel, in breach of the renewable energy directive, 2009/28/EC.
The Commission flags up two infringements in the polish legislation. Firstly, fuels can only be marketed if specific fuel requirements are in place but such requirements do not exist for hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), a biofuel that is imported to Poland. Secondly, preferential treatment is given to fuel operators who source at least 70% of their biofuels - liquid or gaseous fuel for transport produced from biomass - from Polish manufacturers and when the biofuels are produced predominantly from raw materials originating in certain countries. This preferential treatment discriminates against biofuels manufacturers and raw material producers in other countries, the Commission says. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)