26/10/2017 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 24 October MEPs voted by 563 to 23, with 78 abstentions, to authorise France to increase the quotas of traditional rum produced in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique and Réunion that enjoy a reduced rate of certain indirect taxes. In September 2016, France asked the Commission to present a proposal for technical amendment of the 2014 Council decision (Decision 189/2014) increasing the annual quota of traditional rum from 120,000 hectolitres of pure alcohol to 144,000 hectolitres of pure alcohol (see EUROPE 11822). A specific system of excise duties, tolerated within the internal market, applies to the traditional rum of the French outermost regions. The quantities to which this special tax regime can apply are regularly adjusted to ensure the long-term competitiveness of the sector in France’s outermost regions in the face of global competition. (PH)