European Commission takes Poland to court over biofuel import restrictions

The European Commission (EC) has announced that it will refer Poland to the European Court of Justice for restricting import access to its biofuel and feedstock markets.

In a statement, the EC said that “Polish law is not fully in line with EU law”.

Polish biofuels law gives preferential treatment to operators who source at least 70% of their liquid or gaseous biomass-based fuel from Polish manufacturers or source their feedstock from certain countries.

The EC said that this “preferential treatment discriminated against biofuels manufacturers and rwa material producers in other countries”.

Elsewhere, the EC said that “fuels can only be marketed if specific fuel requirements are in place, but such requirements do not exist for hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) – a biofuel that is imported into Poland”.

The Renewable Energy Directive (Directive 2009/28/EC) requires that all Member States must ensure that at least 10% of all energy consumed in transport come from renewable sources by 2020. 

Unrestricted market for biofuels

Biofuels can be used to achieve this target, provided that they meet the Directive's sustainability criteria. Member States also must treat sustainable biofuels and their raw materials equally regardless of their origin. This follows from the need to reconcile renewable energy objectives with a functioning and unrestricted market for biofuels. 

Separately, the EC said in February 2014 it sent the Polish authorities a letter of formal notice under Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU). In April 2015, the Commission sent a reasoned opinion. However, the Polish authorities have still not completely addressed the Commission's concerns.

This is notably due to the fact that the Polish authorities disagree with the Commission's interpretation of the Renewable Energy Directive (Directive 2009/28/EC). Therefore, the Commission deems it necessary to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the EU.