Legislation on excise productcs
The basic principles applicable to all products subject to excise duties have been laid down in Council Directive 92/12/EEC of 25 February 1992 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products. As from 1 April 2010 a new horizontal Council Directive (2008/118/EC) provides a legal framework for the use of the Excise Movement Control System (EMCS).  The current Council Directive 92/12/EEC will be repealed as of that date. Of most important relevance is Article 41 Council Directive 2008/118/EC of 16 December 2008 which allows the Member States to keep their national rules and regulations for the supply of vessels and aircrafts as long as the Council, acting upon a proposal from the Commission, adopts Community rules on this matter ("Until the Council has adopted Community provisions on stores for boats and aircraft, Member States may maintain their national provisions concerning exemptions for such stores.)". This will result in at least 27 different regulations for the supply of vessels and aircrafts.  OCEAN hopes to harmonise this provision at EU level to include the supply of excise goods to vessels as an operation exempted from excise duties. The Council directive needs to be amended and the excise duty exemptions for shipsupply harmonised.

VAT
In international shipping the principle of tax and duty free use of goods and services is of fundamental significance. A ship may be supplied at every port she is calling and therefore competition between Ship Suppliers depends on the cost of goods, on transport conditions and services in different ports. Freedom of taxes is one of the most important conditions to avoid distortions between different ports and different countries.