The EU Council authorises Croatia to tax motor fuels below the EU excise minimum

What changed in detail

The Council of the European Union adopted an implementing decision on 10 July 2026 (Council document ST-10873/26) authorising Croatia, under Article 19 of Directive 2003/96/EC, to apply excise duty on motor fuels below the minimum levels the Directive otherwise sets.

The authorisation covers a reduction of up to EUR 0.225 per litre for gas oil and up to EUR 0.2195 per litre for unleaded petrol, in each case used as motor fuel. It applies for a fixed window running 1 August 2026 to 31 January 2027.

Article 19 derogations are addressed to the requesting member state alone and are granted for a defined period. This decision does not change the EU-wide minimum rates and does not extend to any other member state.

What it means

This is a time-boxed derogation, not a permanent rate change, and the reversion on 1 February 2027 needs to be scheduled at the same moment as the reduction — a rate table that carries the cut without an end date will under-charge from February.

One note on citation: the record cites the Council’s own legislative document. The Official Journal decision number circulating in secondary coverage could not be verified, because EUR-Lex was blocking automated access at the time of the scan, so it is deliberately not stated.