The home heating oil industry is taking legal action against the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, over the imposition of duties on its products. In its pre-Budget submission, the Oil Promotion Federation of Ireland (OPFI) said there is significant excise duty placed on its products, but none on competing fuels such as natural gas or peat.
The Federation, which represents more than 400 home heating oil contractors, said this amounts to a discriminatory taxation and may contravene Article 90 of the Treaty of Rome. "Our legal opinion advises that the Government may be liable to pay substantial compensation backdated several years should the European Court hold in favour of OPFI and it is also the view of our lawyers that we will indeed be successful in this action," the group said in the submission. //www.fxcentre.com