European Union – Excise duty. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that, for the purposes of the applying the reduced rate of excise duty to beer, the condition laid down in art 4(2) of Council Directive (EEC) 92/83 (on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages) according to which a brewery should not operate under licence, was not met if the brewery concerned made its beer in accordance with an agreement pursuant to which it was authorised to use the trade marks and production process of a third party.