Tax regulation mechanism (défiscalisation des biocarburants)
Updated: 08.02.2019
Author: Stijn Anciaux
Transport is a matter of federal competence in Belgium. Therefore, there are no regional support schemes for the production of biofuels.
The Act of 10 June 2006 introduces a reduction of the excise rate for the rate of biofuels contained in petrol and diesel products and produced by production units authorised by the Belgian Government. To that purpose, the Accreditation Commission publishes calls for applications in the official register of the European Union (Art. 3 Loi des Finances du 10 juin 2006). According to the Ministry of Energy, the Accreditation Commission has accredited seven companies for the production of biofuels hitherto. The excise rate mentioned in the Act of 10 June 2006 only applies for energy products released for consumption until 31 May 2014 (Art. 3 Loi du 10 juin 2006).
Eligible technologies
Subject to the exemption of excise duty are only biofuels.
| Biofuels | Eligible under following conditions: - petrol products may contain a maximum of 5% v/v bioethanol (pure or bio ETBE) (Art. 419 c) ii) Loi-Programme du 27 décembre 2004)
- diesel products may contain a maximum of 7% v/v of FAME (fatty acid methyl ester) and meet the requirements of the Belgian standard NBN-EN 14214 (Art. 419 f) i) Loi- programme du 27 décembre 2004)
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Amount
For petrol products containing maximum 5% v/v bioethanol (Art. 419 c) ii) Loi-Programme du 27 décembre 2004):
- excise: € 245.4146 per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
- special excise: € 345,0563 per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
- contribution for energy: € 28.6317 per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
For diesel products containing maximum 7% v/v of FAME (Art. 419 f) i) Loi- Programme du 27 décembre 2004):
- excise: € 198.3148 per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
- special excise: € 325,2638 per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
- contribution for energy: € 14.8736 per 1,000 litres at 15 °C
Moreover, the maximum eligible amount of biofuels of the authorised production units shall not exceed (Art. 4 §5 Loi du 10 juin 2006):
- For bioéthanol: 21,701,244 litres from 1 December 2013.
- For FAME: 184,176,034 litres from 1 December 2013.
Addressees
The addressees are natural or legal persons operating production units authorised by the Belgian Government (Art. 4 Loi du 10 juin 2006). All production units able to produce biofuels meeting the technical requirements of Belgium can apply. A detailed list of the selection criteria for the accreditation of production units is to be found in Art. 6 of the Act of 10 June 2006.
Procedure
Process flow | - Before applying to the Accreditation Commission, the legal or natural person shall be registered in the Customs and Excise Administration (Art. 7 §1 Loi du 10 juin 2006).
- In order to be accredited, the applicant company shall submit to the Accreditation Commission several documents listed in Art. 5 of the Act of 10 June 2006.
- The accredited companies must inform on a yearly basis that they observed the mandatory blending of biofuels (Art. 7 §3 Loi du 10 juin 2006).
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Competent authority | The competent authority for the accreditation of production units is the Accreditation Commission, whereas the Customs and Excise Administration is responsible for matters regarding excise duty. |
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Distribution of costs
| Consumers | In the end, the costs of this tax regulation are borne by the consumers. |
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Belgium
