Excises, environmental taxation, power generation

The environmental taxation of electricity (power generation) and energy products has received another interesting contribution from the Court of Justice of the EU which, with its Section V in the judgment C-833/21 of 23 June 2023 stated that: “… national legislation providing for the taxation of coal used for the production of electricity satisfies the condition contained in that provision, according to which the tax must be introduced for reasons of environmental policy“, where there is a direct link between the use of the revenue of the taxation and its purpose or if such a tax, “…without pursuing a purely budgetary purpose, is designed, as regards its structure, in particular the taxable matter or the tax rate, in such a way as to influence the behavior of taxpayers in a way that allows for better protection of the environment…”.