If you transport energy products without them already being subject to energy tax, this is referred to as "transportation under suspension of excise duty". The tax is suspended as long as the energy products are on their way to their final destination, where it may then be levied.

Energy products are, for example

• gasoline
• heating oil

Natural gas and coal are exempt from transportation under duty suspension.

If you wish to transport energy products under duty suspension, you must notify the customs authorities for excise duty monitoring. The various movement steps are recorded in a database, the IT-supported Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS). If irregularities occur during transportation, the duty suspension ends and the energy products must be taxed.

An irregularity is defined as an event occurring during transportation under suspension of duty as a result of which the transportation or part of the transportation cannot be properly completed.

As a rule, transportation under duty suspension is possible in the following cases:

Transportation in the German tax territory:

• You are authorized to transport energy products within the German tax territory. This means that you are
  • the owner of a tax warehouse. Tax warehouses are manufacturing companies and storage facilities for energy products approved by the customs administration.
  • Registered consignor. Registered consignors are persons authorized by the customs administration to dispatch energy products from the place of importation under duty suspension.
• Transportation within Germany is possible
  • to another tax warehouse,
  • from the place of importation to another tax warehouse or
  • to so-called beneficiaries, for example foreign armies, diplomatic missions and consular representations.

Transportation between Member States:

• You are authorized to ship energy products between member states. This means that you are
  • holder of a tax warehouse.
  • registered consignor.
• Transportation between member states is possible
  • to a tax warehouse,
  • to a registered consignee. Registered consignees are persons authorized by the customs administration to receive energy products from a tax warehouse in another Member State or from the place of importation in another Member State under suspension of excise duty.
  • to beneficiaries.

Export from the European Union:

You are authorized to transport energy products from the European Union to a third country. Third countries are countries outside the customs territory of the European Union.

• You are authorized as
  • Holder of a tax warehouse.
  • registered consignor.
• It is possible to export
  • from tax warehouses in the tax territory.
  • by the registered consignor from the place of importation in the tax territory to a place where the energy products leave the tax territory of the European Union.

Import from third countries into the German tax territory:

You can transport energy products from third countries into the German tax territory. At the point of import, you must submit a customs declaration for the energy products, the energy products are released for consumption and you must pay taxes. If the import is followed by a tax exemption procedure, no tax is incurred.

If the following applies to you, you can apply for a simplified procedure:

• You transport energy products between 2 tax warehouses in the tax territory of the European Union of which you are the owner.
• You are a registered consignor and transport energy products between your tax warehouse and a place of importation in the tax territory.
• You transport liquefied gases or certain heating oils in the tax territory.
• You transport energy products in pipelines in the tax territory.

With the appropriate authorization from the main customs office, you can then transport energy products under duty suspension without using the electronic EMCS procedure.