DE4CC0DE-5FC3-4494-BCBF-4D50B00366B5
Drinks

Greece Loses Fight Over Lower Taxes For Locally Brewed Spirits

By Dayeeta Das
Share this article
Greece Loses Fight Over Lower Taxes For Locally Brewed Spirits

Greece lost a fight to set a lower excise tax on two traditional spirits tsipouro and tsikoudia versus imported products after Europe's top court on Thursday backed the European Commission's view that such preferential treatment would breach EU laws.

Athens upset the EU executive after it introduced excise duties on tsipouro and tsikoudia, which is made in Crete, at half the rate from that levied on imported alcoholic beverages.

Small or so-called two-day distillers of the two beverages also enjoyed a super-reduced rate of around 6%.

Protected Designation Of Origin

Both spirits, which are made from grapes, have protected designation of origin labels, an EU designation to promote and protect the names of quality agricultural products and foodstuffs

The Commission said the lower taxes indirectly protected tsipouro and tsikoudia from competition from similar imported products.

ADVERTISEMENT

It took legal action against Greece at the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) in February 2017.

ECJ judges agreed with the Commission, saying that the lower duties were contrary to EU laws.

The case is C-91/18 Commission v Greece (Tsipouro).

News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.

Get the week's top grocery retail news

The most important stories from European grocery retail direct to your inbox every Thursday

Processing your request...

Thanks! please check your email to confirm your subscription.

By signing up you are agreeing to our terms & conditions and privacy policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.