Biofuels: 130,000 extra tonnes of reduced-tax approvals for 2005

Article 31 of the 2005 Finance Act inserts paragraph 2 bis into Article 265 bis A of the Customs Code: for 2005, approvals covering 130,000 tonnes of biofuels more than in 2004 are awarded through an EU-wide tender. Approved biofuels benefit from a reduction in the domestic consumption tax on petroleum products. The article also allows, with the customs administration's agreement, part of an approval to be transferred between production units of the same operator. The Senate reported that existing approvals then covered 387,000 tonnes of FAME, 219,000 tonnes of ETBE and 103,000 tonnes of ethanol.