Harmonisation of Excise Duties on Energy Products and Electricity in Central and Eastern European Countries

The field of excise duty taxes focuses on the use of these economic instruments designed by the European law in the context of protecting the environment and public health and to establish a prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources. Focusing mainly on deriving and explaining economic impacts of the minimum energy taxes rates corresponding to the EU Directive (2003/96/EC) in CEE countries, this article outlines the degree of harmonisation of excise duty on energy products among these countries. Through this paper, I intended to see whether, for Central and Eastern European countries, there is any significant correlation between energy tax revenues and excise duty levels on energy products and electricity. Therefore, I have drawn two tables [1] including excise duty on motor fuels and heating fuels, such as petrol and gasoline, natural gas, coal and coke levied in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia.