EUROPE: Europe's highest court will deliver a ruling today that could radically change how people buy high-tax products such as alcohol and cigarettes.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) will decide whether European consumers can buy goods from abroad by phone or on the internet and pay excise duties levied in the EU state where the goods are sold, rather than at home.
Most EU states, including Ireland, currently insist that consumers pay duty in the state where they live for goods ordered from abroad.
Levels of excise duty vary widely in Europe, with Ireland levying among the highest rates for alcohol and cigarettes in the EU.
For example, the Government levies €2.1 on a 750ml bottle of wine, while 13 EU states charge no excise duty on the same product.
High VAT on tobacco products in the Republic also means that 100 cigarettes can cost several times more than the same amount of tobacco bought in Latvia or Poland.
If the court decides that duty should be paid to the state where the goods are sold, consumers would make major savings on alcohol and cigarettes bought in other EU states online, rather than from shops in Ireland.
An opinion issued by a top adviser to the ECJ in March argued that consumers should pay the excise duty of the country of acquisition, if the goods were purchased for personal use and "transported by them".
A key point of today's judgment will be whether "transported by them" is interpreted to mean that consumers have to pick up the goods themselves abroad and bring them home or whether they can arrange for a firm to transport the goods to enable them to benefit from lower duty.
EU states with high excise duties have argued to the ECJ that there should be a strict interpretation of the rules to prevent the loss of billions of euros in excise revenue.
The Government collected €1.038 billion excise on alcohol and €1.080 billion on tobacco in 2005.