The regulation 2016/1867 of 20 October 2016, published in on 21 October, is amending the regulation 3199/93 and setting up a single common denaturing of alcohol procedure, and suppress all national denaturing procedures. This new rule shall apply from 1 August 2017.
The whereas
1. Pursuant to Article 27(1)(a) of Directive 92/83/EEC, Member States are required to exempt from excise duty alcohol which has been completely denatured in accordance with the requirements of any Member State, provided that such requirements have been duly notified and accepted in accordance with the conditions laid down in paragraphs 3 and 4 of that Article.
2. Denaturants which are employed in each Member State for the purposes of the complete denaturing of alcohol in accordance with Article 27(1)(a) of Directive 92/83/EEC are described in the Annex to Commission Regulation (EC) No 3199/93.
3. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 162/2013 introduced a common procedure for the complete denaturing of alcohol. That common procedure involves the use, per hectolitre of absolute ethanol, of three litres of isopropyl alcohol (IPA), three litres of methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and one gram of denatonium benzoate. That common procedure was intended to replace the various national denaturing procedures in order to prevent evasion, avoidance and abuse.
4. Although that common denaturing procedure is acknowledged to be robust, efficient and effective in combatting fraud while preventing accidental or deliberate consumption, it has not been applied in the majority of industry uses, largely because …
