Political framework: new Law on Taxation of Mineral Oils
Switzerland is the first country to pass incentive legislation providing for conditional tax exemption for biofuels. To qualify for this tax relief, biofuel production must guarantee compliance with strict environmental and social criteria.
Key features of the Law:
- tax relief for biofuels
- tax relief for performance (environmental and social criteria)
- priority given to local production (imports = demand for biofuels less domestic supply)
- incentive to use biofuels (competitively priced compared to petrol)
Enabling legislation - Ordinance:
The Ordinance passed in January 2008 sets out the following points:
- ecobalance realised by the Administration
- no preferential treatment for domestic production (different from the Law)
- no volume limit
- 100% tax exemption provided the price of tax-exempt ethanol is not too low compared to petrol (maximum difference of 30%) a list of tax exempt products (e.g. ETBE is not included)
Law link: http://www.admin.ch/ch/f/rs/641_61/index.html
Depratment Ordinance (DETEC):
The “department ordinance”, finaly prepared by the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications, sets out the method for evaluating the entire production chain. It provides for:
- no destruction of forests or fragile ecosystems
- reducing the risks for biodiversity
- taking account of a region’s water consumption and water situation
- a CO2 bonus of at least 40% compared with fossil equivalents
- impact on the environment cannot be greater than that of fossil products (pollutants associated with the agricultural phase)
