On Monday 8 July, the European Commission launched its evaluation process to decide whether or not to allow France to continue to apply a reduced rate of certain indirect taxes to rum known as “traditional” which is produced in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique and Réunion after 2020.
In France, rum produced in certain French Outermost Regions (ORs) has benefited from aid since 1923 in the form of reduced rates of excise duty in order to offset the increase in the cost of producing...