German railway attacks jet fuel tax exemption

German state-owned railway Deutsche Bahn has demanded that the EU immediately scrap a jet fuel tax exemption enshrined in the bloc's 1992 mineral oils directive. Claiming the rule violates EU competition law, the firm is threatening to take a legal case to the European court of justice to prove its point.

European Commission spokesperson Gilles Gantelet cautioned that the EU executive could not launch a state aid investigation since the tax exemption was specified explicitly in a directive passed by governments. Furthermore, the clause was in line with global practice, which has exempted jet fuel for international flights from taxation since 1944.