22 OCTOBER 1997. Structure and Excise Rates Act on Mineral Oils (1)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
CHAPTER I
Preliminary provisions
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 78 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. § 1^er. The provisions of this Act, including criminal measures, apply to the control charge levied on domestic fuel, in the same manner as to the excise rights of which the said royalty participates in all characteristics.
§ 2. The references in the following chapters to the codes of the combined nomenclature relate to the version of the combined nomenclature of the common tariff of the European Communities, effective 1^er October 1994.
CHAPTER II
Scope
Art. 3. For the purposes of this Act, "mineral oils" means:
(a) NC 2706 products;
(b) products under NC codes 2707 10, 2707 20, 2707 30, 2707 50, 2707 91 00, 2707 99 11 and 2707 99 19;
(c) NC 2709 products;
(d) NC 2710 products;
(e) products under NC 2711, including chemically pure methane and propane, but excluding natural gas;
(f) products under NC codes 2712 10, 2712 20 00, 2712 90 31, 2712 90 33, 2712 90 39 and 2712 90;
(g) NC 2715 products;
(h) Products under NC 2901;
(i) products of NC codes 2902 11 00, 2902 19 90, 2902 20, 2902 30, 2902 41 00, 2902 42 00, 2902 43 00 and 2902 44;
(j) products under NC codes 3403 11 00 and 3403 19;
(k) NC 3811 products;
(l) products under NC 3817.
Art. 4. Mineral oils, other than those for which an excise level is set by section 7, are subject to an accise if they are intended to be used, sold or used as fuel or fuel. The exigible excise rate is set, depending on use, at the fuel or fuel rate for the equivalent engine. .
Art. 5. In addition to the taxable products referred to in section 3, any product, with the exception of natural gas, intended to be used, sold or used as fuel or as an additive or to increase the final volume of fuels is taxed as a fuel. Any other hydrocarbon, with the exception of coal, lignite, peat or any other similar solid hydrocarbon or natural gas, intended to be used, sold or used for heating, is taxed at the rate applicable to the equivalent mineral oil.
Art. 6. § 1^er. Only the following mineral oils are subject to the control and circulation provisions of the General Regime, Detention, Movement and Controls of Accise Products Act:
(a) NC codes 2707 10, 2707 20, 2707 30 and 2707 50;
(b) Products under NC codes 2710 00 11-2710 00 78. However, for products subject to NC codes 2710 00 21, 2710 00 25 and 2710 00 59, control and traffic provisions apply only to bulk commercial movements;
(c) NC 2711 products (except codes 2711 11 00 and 2711 21 00);
(d) products under NC 2901 10;
(e) products of NC codes 2902 20, 2902 30, 2902 41 00, 2902 42 00, 2902 43 00 and 2902 44.
§ 2. If the Administration is aware that mineral oils other than those referred to in § 1^er are intended to be used, put on sale or used as fuel or as fuel, or are in any way at the origin of fraud, escape or tax abuse, and informs the Commission of the European Communities. The list of products referred to in § 1^er may be completed according to EC regulations.
§ 3. The Minister of Finance may, through a bilateral agreement with another Member State, totally or partially exempt some or all of the above-mentioned products from the control measures provided for in the General Regime, Detention, Traffic and Controls of Products subject to access, provided that they do not fall under Article 7. Such conventions concern only Contracting Member States.
CHAPTER III Determination of the amount of the excise
Art. 7. § 1^er. When used for consumption in the country, the following mineral oils are subject to excise and special excise rights as follows:
(a) leaded gasoline under NC codes 2710 00 26, 2710 00 34 and 2710 00 36:
- excise fee: 11,900 francs per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
- special excise fee: 10,360 francs per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
(b) unleaded petrol under NC codes 2710 00 27, 2710 00 29 and 2710 00 32:
- excise fee: 9 900 francs per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
- special excise charge: 10,010 francs per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
(c) lamping oil in NC 2710 00 51 and 2710 00 55:
(i) used as fuel:
- excise fee: 11,900 francs per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
- special excise right:
10 360 francs per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
(ii) for industrial and commercial purposes:
- Right to excise:
750 francs per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
- special excise right:
0 franc;
(iii) used for heating:
0 franc;
(d) NC gasoil 2710 00 69:
(i) used as fuel:
- Right to excise:
8,000 francs per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
- special excise right:
3,700 francs per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
(ii) for industrial and commercial purposes:
- Right to excise:
750 francs per 1,000 litres at 15 °C;
- special excise right:
0 franc;
(iii) Domestic fuel:
0 franc;
(e) heavy fuel under NC codes 2710 00 74 to 2710 00 78:
(i) not containing more than 1 per cent sulphur:
- Right to excise:
250 francs per 1,000 kg;
- special excise right:
0 franc;
(ii) containing more than 1 per cent sulphur:
- Right to excise:
750 francs per 1,000 kg;
- special excise right:
0 franc;
(f) liquefied petroleum gas under NC 2711 12 11-2711 19 00 and methane under NC 2711 29 00:
(i) used as fuel:
0 franc;
(ii) for industrial and commercial purposes:
- Right to excise:
1,500 francs per 1,000 kg;
- special excise right:
0 franc;
(iii) used for heating: 0 franc.
§ 2. Domestic fuel consumption in the country is subject to a control fee of 210 francs per 1,000 litres at 15 °C.
Art. 8. § 1^er. For the purposes of Article 7, lamping oil, gasoil, LPG and methane used under tax control for food are considered for industrial and commercial use:
(a) fixed engines;
(b) engines of equipment and machinery used in construction, civil engineering and public works;
(c) engines of vehicles intended for off-road use or that have not been authorized to be primarily used on the public track.
For the application of littera b), is also targeted to the industrial motor equipment which essentially has a tool function, with almost zero payload compared to its tare.
§ 2. The fuels used for the supply of motors of trucks and other specially fitted vehicles that are used or could be used for the transport of equipment, machinery and vehicles referred to in paragraph 1 shall not be considered for industrial and commercial use.^er.
Art. 9. In addition to the general provisions defining the fact-generating act and the provisions relating to the payment of the excise contained in the law relating to the general regime, the detention, circulation and control of the products subject to access, the excise on the mineral oils is also due when one of the generators referred to in Article 5.
Art. 10. Excise on mineral oils is due when it is established that a condition relative to the final use, fixed for the purpose of applying a reduced rate or exemption, is not or is no longer fulfilled.
Art. 11. The consumption of mineral oils in the enclosure of an establishment producing mineral oils is not considered to be an excise-generating fact when it is carried out for production purposes.
However, when this consumption is made for purposes other than this production and, in particular, for the propulsion of vehicles, it is considered to be an excise-generating fact.
Art. 12. Subject to Article 13, an establishment in which the products referred to in Article 3 are manufactured or subject to a specific treatment within the meaning of Supplementary Note 4, Chapter 27 of the combined nomenclature of the Common Customs Tariff of the European Communities, is considered to be an establishment producing mineral oils.
Art. 13. Not considered to be "production of mineral oils":
(a) operations in which small quantities of mineral oils are obtained incidentally;
(b) transactions by which the user of a mineral oil makes its reuse possible in his or her own company, provided that the excise amounts already paid on that oil are not less than the amount that would be due if the reused oil was again subject to excise;
(c) the operation of mixing, apart from a production facility or customs warehouse, mineral oils with other mineral oils or other substances, as long as:
(i) excise on basic substances was previously paid, and
ii) the amount paid is not less than the amount of the excise that would be due on the mixture.
The first condition is not applicable when the mixture is exempted for specific use.
Art. 14. In the event of a change of one or more excise rates, the stocks of mineral oil consumed are subject to an increase or a reduction in the excise to the conditions and to the possible limits to be determined by the King.
Art. 15. Reimbursed, under the terms and conditions agreed by the Minister of Finance, excise rights and special excise duties paid on accidentally contaminated or mixed mineral oils that are reintegrated into a tax warehouse for processing purposes.
CHAPTER IV
Exemptions
Art. 16. § 1^er. In addition to the general provisions concerning the exempt uses of goods subject to access and subject to other Community provisions, the following products are exempt from the special excise and excise rights:
(a) mineral oils used other than as fuel or fuel;
(b) the mineral oils provided for use as fuel for air navigation including private tourism aviation.
For the purposes of this Act, private tourism aviation means the use of an aircraft by its owner or the natural or legal person who may use it as a result of a rental or other title, for non-commercial purposes and in particular other than the carriage of persons or goods or the provision of services in an expensive manner or for the needs of public authorities.
This exemption is limited to carbide actor supplies (code NC 2710 00 51);
(c) mineral oils provided for use as fuel for navigation in community waters including fishing. For private pleasure craft, this exemption is limited to diesel.
For the purposes of this Act, a private pleasure craft means a vessel used by its owner or by the natural or legal person who may use it as a result of a rental or other title, for purposes other than commercial and in particular other than the carriage of passengers or goods or the provision of services in an expensive capacity or for the purposes of public authorizations;
(d) the mineral oils injected into the furnaces for chemical reduction, in addition to the coke used as the main fuel.
§ 2. Subject to the application of other community provisions, excise and excise rights are exempted, mineral oils or other products intended for the same uses under tax control:
(a) pilot projects for the technological development of cleaner products, including renewable fuels;
(b) in the field of the manufacture, development, testing and maintenance of aircraft and vessels;
(c) for navigation on inland waterways, including pleasure navigation;
(d) in the transport of persons and goods on rail networks;
(e) exclusively for agricultural or horticultural work and in forestry and freshwater fish farming;
(f) for dredging of inland waterways and ports;
(g) for engines used for drainage of flooded lands.
§ 3. The exemption provided for in paragraph 2, litteras (c) to (g), is limited to gasoil and lamping oil supplies. However, heavy fuel not containing more than 1% of sulphur used under tax control, exclusively for agricultural or horticultural work and in forestry and freshwater fish farming is exempted from special excise and excise rights until 31 December 1999.
§ 4. The exemption referred to in paragraph 2, littera (e), shall apply, within the limit set out in paragraph 3, to the mineral oils used:
(a) as fuel:
- for the heating, in the context of strictly agricultural activities, of premises reserved for livestock farming, as well as for the drying and conservation of agricultural produce;
- for forced horticulture;
- for the exploitation of freshwater fish production and breeding techniques;
(b) as fuel for the power of the installed engines:
- on agricultural, horticultural and forest tractors;
- on self-propelled special construction machines, tools, machinery and vehicles, not suitable for the traction and transport of people, animals or goods, which are specifically designed for exclusively agricultural, horticultural, forestry or fishery uses.
By agricultural, horticultural and forestry tractor within the meaning of this paragraph, the tractors themselves and the motorcyclists, registered as such when they are on the public road and used:
- the traction of machinery, aratory instruments, trailers or trolleys loaded or unloaded, used in their operation by persons exercising the profession of farmer, horticulator, sylviator or fish farmerman or by persons working at their service, provided that the use on the public channel has a direct connection with the management of this operation;
- by other contractors other than the above-mentioned persons, or by their personnel, for the execution of work in relation to the farming, horticultural, forestry or fish farming of third parties, provided that no public transport of goods, goods or animals is carried out other than between the premises of the same farm or between the farm and the lands that depend on it and vice versa.
The exemption does not extend to fuels used for the supply of specially engineered trucks and other vehicles, which are used or could be used for the carriage of tractors, machinery and other equipment referred to in this paragraph.
§ 5. Gasoil used as fuel is exempted from special excise duty up to 2 000 francs per 1,000 litres at 15 °C when it is intended for the needs of regional public transport companies.
§ 6. The Minister of Finance may give effect to the exemption measures referred to in this section by a refund of the excise paid.
Art. 17. § 1^er. The mineral oils consumed in another Member State, contained in the normal tanks of the commercial motor vehicles and intended to be used as fuel by the same vehicles, as well as in the special purpose containers for these containers and used for their operation in the course of transport, are not subject to access in the country.
§ 2. For the purposes of this article, the following means:
(a) normal tanks:
- the tanks fixed by the manufacturer on all means of transport of the same type as the means of transport concerned and whose permanent arrangement allows the direct use of the fuel, both for the traction of vehicles and, where applicable, for the operation, during the transport, of refrigeration systems and other systems. Also considered as normal tanks are gas tanks adapted to transport means that allow the direct use of the gas as fuel, as well as tanks suitable for other systems that can be equipped with means of transport;
- the tanks fixed by the manufacturer on all containers of the same type as the container concerned and whose permanent arrangement allows the direct use of the fuel for the operation, during transport, of refrigeration systems and other systems equipped with special purpose containers;
(b) Special purpose containers:
any container equipped with devices specially adapted for refrigeration, oxygenation, thermal insulation or other systems.
Art. 18. The Minister of Finance sets out the conditions to be met, lamping oil and diesel oil when these are not used as fuel within the meaning of Article 7. It may, for this purpose, prescribe that identification agents or products that make oils unfit for motor feeding, be added to these mineral oils. It also determines the applicable terms and procedures that must be completed to obtain exemptions or partial exemption from the special excise right referred to in Article 16.
CHAPTER V General and criminal provisions
Art. 19. The Minister of Finance is authorized to take all measures generally to ensure the recovery of excise rights and special excise rights set out in section 7 and to regulate the monitoring of tax warehouses and all establishments where mineral oils are produced, processed, held or sold.
Art. 20. The Minister of Finance may prescribe the conditions to which mineral oils must satisfy in order to be used, sold or available for the supply of motors of vehicles running on the public track other than the machinery, equipment and vehicles referred to in Article 8 and that machinery, machinery or tractors exclusively used for agricultural, horticultural, forestry and fishery work.
Art. 21. Customs and Excise officials have the power to collect samples of the products referred to in Article 20.
Subjects are required to allow these samples to be taken free of charge and also to provide free containers to contain them.
Art. 22. Persons who have received mineral oils other than those for which an excise level is set out in section 7, are required to justify, to the satisfaction of the customs and accise officials, the destination given to these products.
Subject to section 207 of the General Customs and Access Act, such persons shall, inter alia, upon the requisition of the above-mentioned agents, immediately display their invoices, books or other accounting documents and any records of manufacture.
Art. 23. Any infringement of the provisions of this Act that have the effect of making enforceable the excise rights and special excise rights set out in section 7, shall be punished by a fine equal to the tenfold of the rights at stake with a minimum of 10,000 francs.
The fine is doubled in case of recurrence.
Regardless of the penalty set out above, the goods for which the excise is due, the means of transport used for the offence, as well as the objects used or intended for the commission of the fraud, are seized and the confiscation is pronounced.
In addition, offenders are sentenced to imprisonment from four months to one year when:
1° of products falling under the application of section 3, are manufactured without prior declaration or subtracted from the prescribed care in order to ensure the perception of rights;
2° fraud is practised either in a clandestine establishment or in a regularly established factory but elsewhere than in the duly declared premises.
Art. 24. Any violation of the provisions of this Act or the measures taken pursuant to sections 18 and 19 and not punishable under section 23, shall be punished by a fine of 25,000 to 125,000 francs.
Art. 25. Any contravention of the measures taken pursuant to section 20, any impediment or objection to the exercise of the right referred to in section 21, paragraph 1^erand any refusal to comply with the obligations provided for in Article 21, paragraph 2, and Article 22, paragraph 2, shall be punished by a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 francs.
In case of recidivism, the fine is doubled.
Art. 26. Regardless of fines commuted by sections 23, 24 and 25, the payment of excise rights and fraudulent special excise rights is still payable.
Art. 27. The provisions of the General Regime, Detention, Traffic and Controls Act apply to excise rights, special excise rights and control fees established by this Act.
CHAPTER VI
Confirmations and repeals
Art. 28. Confirmed for the period during which they were in force:
1° the Royal Decree of 29 December 1992 concerning the structure and rates of excise rights on mineral oils, as amended by the Royal Decrees of 29 December 1992, 27 August 1993, 26 November 1993, 30 May 1994, 23 December 1994, 30 June 1995, 16 October 1995, 22 December 1995 and 27 September 1996;
2° the Royal Decree of December 21, 1993 concerning the excise regime of mineral oils.
Art. 29. Are repealed:
1° the Act of 7 February 1961 concerning the excise regime of benzols and similar products, as amended by the laws of 29 June 1966, 26 January 1976, 6 July 1978 and 28 December 1992;
2° the Royal Decree of 20 November 1963 coordinating the legal provisions concerning the excise regime of mineral oils, as amended by the laws of 12 July 1966, 6 July 1978, 22 December 1989, 28 July 1992 and 28 December 1992;
3° Article 4 of the Act of 9 July 1969 concerning the excise regime of mineral oils, replaced by Article 9 of the Act of 20 July 1990 on economic and fiscal provisions;
4th Royal Decree of 29 December 1992 concerning the structure and rates of excise rights on mineral oils, as amended by Royal Decrees of 29 December 1992, 27 August 1993, 26 November 1993, 30 May 1994, 23 December 1994, 30 June 1995, 16 October 1995, 22 December 1995 and 27 September 1996;
5° the royal decree of December 21, 1993 concerning the excise regime of mineral oils.
Promulgons this law, let us order it to be put on the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 22 October 1997.
ALBERT
By the King:
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance,
Ph. MAYSTADT
Seal of the state seal:
Minister of Justice,
S. DE CLERCK
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