Study on Council Directive 2008/118/EC: The General Arrangements for Excise Duty. Final Report Volume 1 – Main Text. 23 July 2018. CEPS Special Report, July 2018

Abstract

CEPS was a partner in a major study commissioned by the European Commission on the general arrangements for excise duty. This study includes a baseline assessment of a number of issues that emerged from the previous evaluation of the Council Directive 2008/118/EC concerning the general arrangements for excise duty. It considers how these problems may evolve if no action is taken at EU level. The work covers four main problem areas: customs-excise, duty paid business-to-business (B2B), exceptional situations, and low risk movements. In addition, the study analyses aspects of risk analysis and the movement of excise goods for private use. The study then identifies 13 possible policy options to address the problems detected. It assesses implementation costs and the likely impacts of each option, focusing on the impact on fraud, administrative and compliance costs/benefits, market functioning and SMEs. Finally, it compares alternative policy options, applying a combination of a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) methodolog