28.2.2014 Official Journal of the European Union L 591 (Legislative acts) | DECISIONS COUNCIL DECISION No 189/2014/EU of 20 February 2014 authorising France to apply a reduced rate of certain indirect taxes on ‘traditional’ rum produced in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique and Réunion and repealing Decision 2007/659/EC THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 349 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament ('), Acting in accordance with a special legislative procedure, Whereas: (1) Council Decision 2007/659/EC () authorised France to apply to ‘traditional’ rum produced in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique and Réunion (the four outermost regions concerned’), and sold on the French mainland a reduced rate of excise duty which may be lower than the minimum rate of excise duty set by Council Directive 92/84/EEC (}) but not more than 50 % lower than the standard national excise duty on alcohol. As of 1 January 2011, the reduced rate of excise duty is limited to an annual quota of 120 000 hectolitres of pure alcohol (hlpa). That derogation expired on 31 December 2013. (2 On 12 March 2013, the French authorities asked the Commission to submit a proposal for a Council decision extending the derogation set out in Decision () Opinion of 16 January 2014 (not yet published in the Official Journal). (%) Council Decision 2007/659/EC of 9 October 2007 authorising France to apply a reduced rate of excise duty on ‘traditional’ rum produced in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique and Réunion (O] L 270, 13.10.2007, p. 12). (}) Council Directive 92/84/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the approxi- mation of the rates of excise duty on alcohol and alcoholic beverages (O] L 316, 31.10.1992, p. 29). 2007/659/EC, under the same conditions, for seven years, until 31 December 2020. That request was supple- mented by the submission of additional information and amended concerning the different French taxes to be covered by the proposed decision, on 3 July and 2 August 2013 respectively. The French authorities also informed the Commission that France amended as of 1 January 2012 the national legislation on the ‘cotisation sur les boissons alcooliques’, also known as ‘vignette sécurité sociale (VSS), which is a contribution levied for the National Sickness Insurance Fund on alcoholic beverages sold in France to counter the health risks involved in immoderate use of this product and that is levied in addition to the national excise duty. In particular, the tax base was changed from EUR 160 per hectolitre to EUR 533 per hlpa, and a limitation of the amount of the VSS was introduced which was linked to the applicable excise duty. In the context of the request by the French authorities for an extension of the derogation set out in Decision 2007/659/EC until 31 December 2020, the French auth- orities asked the Commission to include as of 1 January 2012 the VSS in the list of taxes for which a lower rate can be applied for ‘traditional’ rum produced in the four outermost regions concerned. It is more appropriate to adopt a new Decision on a derogation covering both taxes: the differentiation of the excise duty as set out in Directive 92/84/EEC and the VSS, instead of extending the derogation set out in Decision 2007/659/EC. Given the small scale of the local market, the distilleries in the four outermost regions concerned can develop their activities only if they have sufficient access to the market in the French mainland, which is the main outlet for their rum (71 %). The difficulty for ‘traditional’ rum to compete on the Union market, in addition to the specific structural social and economic situation of