23.12.2014 Official Journal of the European Union L 367/1 (Legislative acts) DECISIONS COUNCIL DECISION No 940/2014/EU of 17 December 2014 concerning the dock dues in the French outermost regions 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)  The provisions of the Treaty, which apply to the outermost regions of the Union, of which the French overseas departments form part, do not authorise, in principle, any difference in taxation between local products and those from metropolitan France or the other Member States. However, Article 349 of the Treaty envisages the possibility of introducing specific measures for those regions because of the existence of permanent handicaps affecting the economic and social situation of the outermost regions. (2)  Such specific measures must take account of the special characteristics and constraints of those regions, without undermining the integrity and the coherence of the Union legal order, including the internal market and common policies. The permanence and combination of handicaps suffered by the outermost regions of the Union as referred to in Article 349 of the Treaty (remoteness, raw-material and energy dependence, the obligation to build up larger stocks, the small size of the local market combined with a low level of export activity, etc.) increase production costs and, therefore, the cost price of goods produced locally, so that without specific measures they would be less competitive than those produced elsewhere, even taking into account the cost of transporting such goods to the French overseas departments. That would make it harder to maintain local production. For this reason, specific measures need to be taken in order to strengthen local industry by making it more competitive. Until 31 December 2014, Council Decision 2004/162/EC (') authorises France, in order to restore the competitiveness of products produced locally, to apply exemptions or reductions to the dock dues for certain products produced in the outermost regions of Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion and, from 1 January 2014, Mayotte. The Annex to that Decision contains the list of products to which the tax exemp- tions or reductions may be applied. The difference between the taxation of products produced locally and that of other products may not exceed 10, 20 or 30 percentage points, depending on the product. (3)  France has requested that a system similar to that contained in Decision 2004/162/EC be maintained beyond 1 January 2015. France points out that the handicaps listed above are permanent, that the taxation arrangements (") Council Decision 2004/162[EC of 10 February 2004 concerning the dock dues in the French overseas departments and extending the period of validity of Decision 89/688/EEC (OJ L 52, 21.2.2004, p. 64).