UK in court over red diesel

摘要

The European Commission has published its decision to take the UK Government to the European Courts of Justice in an attempt to force the UK to stop allowing leisure boats to use 'red' diesel - even if they pay the full rate of duty on the fuel. But it appears that the UK is prepared to defend its stance. When the EU exemption which allowed pleasure boats in the UK to use lower duty red diesel ended several years ago, rather than insist that craft used higher duty 'white' road diesel (also called DERV), the Government chose to allow craft to carry on using red -but only if they declared how much of it was for propulsion, paid the higher duty on that part and kept records. This avoided the need for boats to have two tanks and for boatyards to have two pumps - or for boaters to pay the higher rate for other uses such as heating.