The Belgian government‘‘s plans to impose a tax on non-refillable containers have twice been ruled discriminatory and annulled by the Belgian Court of Arbitration. Europen reports that the Belgian government‘‘s response has been to introduce a revised tax, now also applicable on refillable beverage containers, which took effect on 10 April 2007.

This leaves the tax on non-refillable containers unchanged, in line with the Court‘‘s decision, but taxes refillable containers at 1/7 of the rate for non-refillables, on the assumption that refillables will be reused 7 times.

The revised tax rates as published in the Belgian gazette are:

EUR 9.86 per hectolitre for non-refillables
EUR 1.41/hl for refillables