CELEX: 31992L0080
Language: en
Date: 1992-10-19 00:00:00
Title: Council Directive 92/80/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the approximation of taxes on manufactured tobacco other than cigarettes

No L 316/ 10                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                31 . 10. 92
                                               COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 92/80/EEC
                                                        of 19 October 1992
                    on the approximation of taxes on manufactured tobacco other than cigarettes
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                             Whereas a mechanism should be set up to enable specific
                                                                     amounts expressed in ecu to be converted into national
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                currency,
Economic Community, and in particular Article 99
thereof,
                                                                     HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE :
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par­                                               Article 1
liament (2),
                                                                     The following groups of manufactured tobacco produced
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social              in the Community and imported from non-member
Committee (3),
                                                                     countries shall be subject, in each Member State, to a
                                                                     minimum excise duty as laid down in Article 3 :
Whereas Directive 72/464/EEC (4), lays down in Title I               (a) cigars and cigarillos ;
general provisions on excise duty which are applicable to            (b) fine-cut tobacco intended for the rolling of cigarettes ;
all manufactured tobacco ; whereas, under Title II, special
provisions have already been adopted for cigarettes ;                (c) other smoking tobaccos.
whereas special provisions have yet to be adopted for
other types of manufactured tobacco ;                                                            Article 2
Whereas Directive 79/32/EEC (*) laid down the defini­                For the purposes of this Directive, the definitions of the
 tions relating to the various groups of manufactured                products referred to in Article 1 shall be those laid down
 tobacco ;                                                           in Articles 2, 4 and 4a respectively of Directive
                                                                     79/32/EEC.
 Whereas, in order to establish the internal market on
 1 January 1993, it is necessary to establish minimum
                                                                                                 Article 3
 excise duties for manufactured tobacco other than ciga­
 rettes ;
                                                                      1 . Not later than 1 January 1993, Member States shall
 Whereas a harmonized incidence of tax should be esta­
                                                                     apply an excise duty which may be :
 blished for all products belonging to the same group of             — either an ad valorem duty calculated on the basis of
 manufactured tobacco ;                                                   the maximum retail selling price of each product,
                                                                          freely determined by manufacturers established in the
 Whereas the setting of an overall minimum excise duty                    Community and by importers from non-member
 expressed as a percentage, as an amount per kilogram or                  countries in accordance with Article 5 of Directive
 for a given number of items is the most appropriate for                  72/464/EEC,
 achieving the internal market ;                                     — or a specific duty, by quantity,
 Whereas the Italian Republic and the Kingdom of Spain                — or a mixture of both, combining an ad valorem
 should be granted until 31 December 1998 the possibility                 element and a specific element, provided that the
 of a lower rate of tax on cigars and cigarillos in respect of            overall excise duty expressed as a percentage, as an
 rolls of tobacco consisting entirely of natural tobacco                  amount per kg or for a given number of items is at
 which are not cigarettes ;                                               least equivalent to the rates or minimum amounts laid
                                                                          down for :
 Whereas a procedure should be introduced to enable the                   — cigars and cigarillos : 5 % of the retail selling price
  rates or amounts laid down in this Directive to be revi­                    inclusive of all taxes, or ECU 7 per 1 000 items or
  ewed periodically on the basis of a Commission report                       per kilogram
  taking account of all the appropriate factors ;
                                                                          — fine-cut smoking tobacco intended for the rolling
                                                                              of cigarettes : 30 % of the retail selling price
  (') OJ No C 12, 18. 1 . 1990, p. 8.                                         inclusive of all taxes, or ECU 20 per kilogram
  (2) OJ No C 94, 13. 1 . 1992, p. 38.
  0 OJ No C 225, 10. 9. 1990, p. 56.                                      — other smoking tobaccos : 20 % of the retail selling
  (4) OJ No L 303, 31 . 12. 1972, p. 1 . Last amended by Directive
      92/78/EEC (see page 5 of this Official Journal).                        price inclusive of all taxes, or ECU 15 per kilo­
  0 OJ No L 10, 16. 1 . 1979, p. 8.                                           gram.
 ---pagebreak--- 31 . 10 . 92                          Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 316/ 11
2. The rates or amounts referred to in paragraph 1 shall        and shall have effect from 1 January of the following
be effective for all products belonging to the group of         calendar year.
manufactured tobaccos concerned, without distinction
within each group as to quality, presentation, origin of the    2. Member States may maintain the amounts of the
products, the materials used, the characteristics of the        excise duties in force at the time of the annual adjustment
firms involved or any other criterion.                          provided for in paragraph 1 if the conversion of the
                                                                amounts of the excise duties expressed in ecu would
                                                                result in an increase of less than 5 % or ECU 5,
3. The Italian Republic and the Kingdom of
                                                                whichever is the lower amount, in the excise duty
Spain may until 31 December 1998 apply to rolls of
tobacco consisting entirely of natural tobacco which are         expressed in national currency.
not cigarettes a rate or amount which may be up to 50 %
                                                                                           Article 6
less than the normal national rate of excise duty for cigars
and cigarillos and which may fall below the minimum              1 . Member States shall bring into force the laws, regu­
rate laid down in paragraph 1 .                                  lations and administrative provisions necessary to comply
                                                                with this Directive not later than 31 December 1992.
                                                                They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.
                          Article 4
                                                                 When Member States adopt these measures, they shall
Every two years, and for the first time not later than           contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompa­
31 December 1994, the Council, acting on the basis of a          nied by such reference on the occasion of their official
report and, where appropriate, a proposal from the               publication. The methods of making such reference shall
Commission, shall examine the rates of duty laid down            be laid down by the Member States.
herein and, acting unanimously after consulting the Euro­        2.    Member States shall communicate to the Commis­
pean Parliament, shall adopt the necessary measures. The         sion the texts of the main provisions of national law
report by the Commission and the examination by the              which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.
Council shall take into account the proper functioning of
the internal market, the real value of the rates of duty and
                                                                                           Article 7
the wider objectives of the Treaty.
                                                                 This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
                          Article 5
                                                                 Done at Luxembourg, 19 October 1992.
 1.   The value of the ecu in national currencies to be
applied to the value of specific excise duties shall be fixed                                   For the Council
once a year. The rates to be applied shall be those obtai­
                                                                                                 The President
ning on the first working day of October and published
in the Official Journal of the European Communities                                                J. COPE