Member States cannot impose a tax on the export of electricity produced on their territory, the European Court of Justice ruled in a judgement delivered on Thursday 6 December (Case C-305/17).
After the partial shutdown of the Jaslovské Bohunice nuclear power plant, the Slovak State imposed a fee of €6.8 million on the national supplier Korlea Invest (now FENS) for the export, within and outside the EU, of electricity produced in Slovakia. The latter challenged the legality of this fee, arguing that it constituted a tax having equivalent effect to a customs duty contrary to the free movement of goods.
In its judgement, the Court ruled in favour of Korlea Invest. In its view, the tax paid by the final consumer of electricity in Slovakia cannot be regarded as equivalent to the tax paid by the exporter of electricity, so that the disputed charge actually applies to that commodity because of the crossing of a border.
The European Court concludes that the charge constitutes a tax having equivalent effect to a customs duty, both for electricity exported to another Member State and for electricity exported outside the territory of the EU. As regards exports to other Member States, he points out that the principle of the free movement of goods precludes the imposition of such a tax, as the European Treaty does not grant any derogation in this respect.
And for exports outside the EU, the common commercial policy would be compromised if a Member State unilaterally imposed export taxes equivalent to customs duties. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)