ANNOUNCEMENT 28 Jan 2014
In January 2014, the government of Poland announced a targeted tax change.NUMBER OF INTERVENTIONS
1
SOURCE
Official letter from the EC to Poland in Polish: SA.37334
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/cases/249899/249899_1516945_94_2.pdf
Tax or social insurance relief
On 28 January 2014, the European Commission allowed the Polish authorities to provide an exemption from excise duty for taxable supplies of gas used for heating to companies involved in agriculture, horticulture and fish farming.
Accordingto the Commission, all agricultural, horticultural and fish farmingundertakings in Poland may benefit from the exemption. The number of beneficiaries isexpected to surpass 1000. (para. 8, letter from the EC to Poland,Brussels 28.1.2014)
Furthermore, the EC expects the budget for this measure to circulate around EUR 93.3 million for the period from January 2014 until end of October 2019, or about EUR 15.7 million per annum.
The Commission pointed out that since the 'Polish agricultural market is open to intra-EU trade, the measures may affect trade between Member States' (para. 21; own translation).
Astate measure in the GTA database is assessed solely in terms of theextent to which its implementation affects the extent of discrimination against foreigncommercial interests. On this metric, the state aid proposed here isdiscriminatory.