The European Commission (ed. Commission) announced today (8.10.2025) its decision to refer Greece to the EU Court of Justice, due to non -compliance with the European Directive on the establishment of a general regime of special taxes (APO).
In its announcement, the Commission states that Greece relieves the EFK the products supplied by the tax -free stores located on its land borders with the Albania, Northern Macedonia and Turkey.
Under Union Law, the Member States possessed on July 1, 2008, off -air shops outside the airport or port could make use of that exemption by January 2017. “Although this is no longer allowed under the EU rules, Greece is still making use of this exemption,” the Commission said, which estimates that the efforts that the Greek authorities have made to date are inadequate. For this reason, it refers to Greece to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
It is recalled that as a result of the successive legislative changes approved from 2016 to 2023, Greece continues to relieve EFK the deliveries of products subject to special consumption taxes carried out by shops located at its land borders to travelers who go to countries outside the EU.
To ensure the proper operation of the internal market, Council Directive (EU) 2020/262 establishes single rules regarding, inter alia, at the time when the excise duty is demanded and the deliveries of specialized products for which the products may be applied.
Since January 2017, the deliveries of products of special consumption taxes carried out by stores located on the land border to travelers who go to outside EU countries can no longer be exempt from the Special Tax in accordance with the Law of the Union and should be paid.