Brussels, 31 May 2017 | The VAT fraud in energy and emissions trading continues to pose a serious threat to European Exchequers and energy and emissions markets alike. The existing preventive mechanisms, like the derogations enabling Member States to implement a domestic reverse charge mechanism on gas, electricity and emissions transactions between taxable persons and taxable dealers as resellers, need to be continued and further extended. Active action must be taken by the European Commission, the Council of the EU and the relevant bodies at Member State level to protect energy and emissions trading from a repetition of large scale VAT fraud in Europe. In this context, Europex calls for:
– A prolongation of the existing derogation;
– An extension to all Member States;
– The explicit mentioning of Guarantees of Origin in the derogation.
The necessity to keep the derogations in place and to invite all Member States to implement them domestically should also be mentioned in the overall assessment report that the European Commission will present to the European Parliament and the Council before 31 January 2018.
Please read the full consultation response below.
