The European Court of Justice, ECJ, has ruled that a tax imposed by the Spanish government on fuels to help finance the public health system is illegal and has ordered the subsequent 13 billion euros raised between 2002 and 2011 to be returned.
The court ruled that the tax raised by regional governments was not specifically aimed at alleviating the impact of the environmental damage caused by fossil fuels, which are also subject to various other taxes, and therefore breached a European Union directive on special taxes.
The legislation governing the imposition of the tax, known as the céntimo sanitario, the health cent, was amended in January 2013 to bring it into line with European Union law.
The ECJ also rejected a request by the Spanish government to be exonerated from having to return the tax. The court ruled that the administration had imposed the tax in bad faith, given that the ECJ had already ruled against a similar levy in 2000 and the European Commission had already initiated sanction proceedings against Spain on the issue.