The Commission is bringing a case against Poland to the Court of Justice in relation to tax exemptions for the use of energy products by companies that emit large amounts of pollution.
The Commission undertook on November 27 this year. decision to refer Poland to the Court of Justice in connection with enabling energy-intensive enterprises to benefit from exemption from coal and gas excise duty. In the light of Polish legislation, contrary to EU law in this matter, some energy products, such as coal and gas, used by energy-intensive companies covered by the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) are exempt from excise duty.
Common EU rules on energy taxation (Council Directive 2003/96 / EC) require companies that benefit from such exemptions to improve their environmental or energy efficiency beyond what is required by binding EU instruments such as the EU ETS. Polish regulations do not, however, require such a level of energy efficiency. These laws favor highly polluting activities and are therefore contrary to EU climate goals and cause serious distortions of competition in the EU.
The decision to refer the case to the Tribunal was made as a consequence of Poland’s failure to adapt its legislation to EU law after receiving a reasoned opinion from the Commission.