Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Bozidar Djelic said that at a meeting that will be held on 22 March in Brussels representatives of the European Commission (EC) and the Serbian government will find a solution to the dual excise tax which Serbia introduced on oil derivatives late last year because such excise tax is in disharmony with the Transitional Trade Agreement.

Djelic told Tanjug news agency that in the year when Serbia wants to obtain the EU candidate status it surely does not want to have any kind of violations of the agreement with the EU.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that he was told by Co-Chairman of the Committee for Monitoring the Implementation of the Transitional Trade Agreement Pierre Mirel that the EC believes that amendments to the Law on Excise Tax adopted on 29 December last year, combined with the Rule book on trade in oil derivatives, violate Article 6.4 and Article 22.1 of the Transitional Trade Agreement.

Djelic was informed by Mirel that the EC believes that the double excise tax also violates Article 41 of the Energy Community of Southeast Europe.

The EC proposes, and Serbia accepts to place this issue on the agenda of the joint meeting that will be held on 22 March in Brussels and we will ask that the EC and Serbia find an acceptable solution by then, Djelic underlined.