The European Commission has formally requested Spain to modify its rules on excise duties to bring them into line with EU legislation.

Under EU rules, all movement of excise goods under duty suspension within the EU must be accompanied by an electronic administrative document giving details about the goods, including information about their journey time. Spain imposes penalties and fines if the journey time estimates are incorrect. However, the Commission has taken the view that incorrectly estimating journey time is unrelated to any fraudulent intention and that the Spanish penalty rules are therefore disproportionate.

The Commission has officially asked Spain to amend its legislation within two months. This request took the form of a ‘reasoned opinion’. In the absence of a satisfactory response within this time-limit, the Commission may refer Spain to the EU Court of Justice.

For further information see http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/12/414&format=HTML&aged=0&language=en&guiLanguage=en