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(2004/C 88 E/0046)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1732/03

by Freddy Blak (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(23 May 2003)

Subject:   Discriminatory Danish excise duty on beer

Beer imported into Denmark is subject to duty based on the original gravity of the beer before fermentation or degrees Plato, which is an expression of the nutrient content of the beer. The more ‘body’ the beer has, the higher the percentage of alcohol, though the link between them is not straightforward, which creates problems since beer with identical alcohol content is subject to different rates of taxation in a number of cases. This system benefits Danish beer as it appears that only Danish breweries are able to produce beer with an alcohol content of 4,6 % (tax bracket 1) from the added quantity of sugar and yeast (original gravity of the beer/degree Plato). Furthermore, the Danish system of duty is divided into steps which are closely aligned with the Danish brewing tradition. This means that only Danish Pilsner qualifies for the lowest tax bracket, 1. All other (foreign) beer automatically falls into a higher tax bracket because different quantities of sugar/yeast are used in the brewing process abroad. As a result, beer of the same or even lower alcoholic strength is assigned to tax bracket 2 or above, which has a directly discriminatory effect. It would therefore be more appropriate to calculate duty with reference to the absolute percentage of alcohol and not the original gravity/degree Plato of the beer. Calculating on that basis would also be more fitting from a health point of view.

Does the Commission intend to raise this problem with the Danish Government?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(23 July 2003)

Article 3 of Directive 92/83/EEC (1) leaves Member States a choice to levy duty by reference to the degrees Plato or to the degrees of actual alcoholic strength of beer. Furthermore, it allows Member States which levy the excise duty on beer by reference to the number of hectolitre/degrees Plato to divide beer into categories consisting of no more than four degrees Plato per category, and to apply the same rate of duty per hectolitre (hl) on all beers falling within each category.

This provision enable Member States to simplify the levying of the excise duty on beer, calculated by reference to the number of hectolitre/degrees Plato. Denmark, as well as two other Member States, make use of this possibility to divide beer into categories of degrees Plato and all use 11 degree Plato as a dividing line between two categories. It should be noted that the rates applied by each of these Member States to the different categories result, on average, in equivalent taxation per degree Plato of beers falling in different categories. Moreover, the same rates of duty (expressed per hl for each category of degrees Plato) apply to beers produced in Denmark as to beers imported into Denmark

Furthermore, under the harmonised system of alcohol taxation — which was based on the various systems that were already applied in Member States prior to 1992 — the charge by reference to the alcohol content of an alcoholic drink is in fact the exception, applying only to spirits and, as an alternative, to beer. All other products, (wine, intermediate products, cider etc) are charged by reference to their volume alone.

Regarding the Honourable Member's statement that it would be more appropriate to calculate duty with reference to its alcoholic strength, the Commission would point out that, until now, neither the Member States, nor the brewing industry, have expressed themselves in favour of a change in the existing system of beer taxation within the Union.

Therefore, the Commission does not see a need to raise this matter with the Danish Government.

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(1)  Council Directive 92/83/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages, OJ L 316, 31.10.1992.

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