European Commission slams Portugal over failure to comply with biofuel law

The European Commission (EC) has called on Portugal to ensure the full compliance of its biofuel legislation with the Renewable Energy Directive (Directive 2009/28/EC).

In a statement, the EC said it had sent a reasoned opinion to the Member State to ensure it complied with the laws within the Renewable Energy Directive.

The Directive sets the objective of reaching a 20% share of renewable energy in the EU’s final energy consumption in 2020 which includes individual national targets in each Member State.

With regard to transport, Member States have to ensure that 10 % of total energy consumption in that sector comes from renewable energy. One way of contributing to this specific transport target is promoting biofuels.

In this context, the Directive requires biofuels to meet a set of harmonised sustainability requirements.

In addition to this, Member States are obliged to treat sustainable biofuels and the raw materials from which they were made equally, regardless of their country of origin.

According to the EC, the Portuguese legislation on biofuels contradicts the Directive in two respects. First, it favours biofuels produced in Portugal over biofuels of other countries of origin that are equally suitable, but produced elsewhere.

Second, the legislation imposes stricter sustainability requirements on some biofuels, without this being warranted by the Directive.

Two-month deadline

Portugal now has two months to address the Commission's concerns. According the EC, if Portugal does not adhere to the rules it may decide to refer Portugal to the Court of Justice of the EU.