Filenews 15 July 2022
Everything depends on the opinion of the Attorney General, said the President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades, when asked if he will refer back or report to the Supreme Court the legislation approved yesterday by the Parliament on tax reductions on electricity.
"Everything depends on the opinion of the Attorney General, because the President never decides without the opinion of the State's Legal Counsel on whether to refer or make a report to the Supreme Court and so on.
Yesterday, the Plenary Session of the Parliament approved two bills to abolish the imposition of 19% VAT on the EAC's fuel adjustment clause by the end of the year and to abolish the imposition of 19% VAT on excise duty on petroleum products by the end of the year.
The bills
Two bills concerning the non-imposition of VAT until the end of 2022 on the excise duty borne by petroleum products and the imposition of a zero VAT rate until the end of 2022 on the adjustment of the price of fuel incorporated in the final electricity bills of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC), were voted by a majority of the Plenary Session of the Parliament during its session on Thursday.
The proposal for a law not to impose VAT until the end of 2022 on the excise duty borne by petroleum products, which amends the value added tax law, was submitted by Stefanos Stefanou on behalf of the AKEL parliamentary group. 31 Members voted in favour and 15 against.
The purpose of the other draft law, which was submitted by Nikolas Papadopoulos, Christiana Erotokritou and Chryssis Pantelides on behalf of the parliamentary group of the Democratic Party and to which the DHPA was added as rapporteur, is to amend the Value Added Tax Law, in order to adjust the price of fuel that is incorporated in the final electricity bills of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) and which includes the percentage of the cost the purchase of greenhouse gas emission allowances, the cost of purchasing fuel and the cost of maintaining strategic reserves, to be temporarily subject, until the end of the year 2022, to the zero VAT rate.
