These types of businesses can be found all along the Belgian-Dutch border. Unsightly diesel pumps are hidden behind shops, on industrial estates or on narrow roads, where Dutch tractors stop several times a day to fill their tanks with cheap fuel.
This so-called “red diesel” – standard diesel to which dye has been added to monitor its use – has only been sold in Belgium since 2013 and is cheaper because it is subject to much lower excise duties. Only certain categories of users, such as farmers for their agricultural activities and road builders, are allowed to purchase red diesel.
In principle, this is legal. Dutch farmers are allowed to fill up their agricultural vehicles with cheap red diesel in Belgium, but only if it is used for agricultural, horticultural or forestry activities, and not for earthmoving or demolition work, for example.
Furthermore, only vehicles that do not drive on public roads (such as forklift trucks) are allowed to use red diesel in Belgium. The cheaper fuel can also be used for all kinds of installations and machines in (road) construction and stationary engines that power generators, pumps, centrifuges and other machines. However, the use of red diesel is virtually impossible to monitor. Users are not required to keep track of their activities, as the Belgian Court of Audit criticised in 2024. The problem is a long-standing one.
Fuel tourism causes the Dutch government to lose tax revenue. Roost has attempted to calculate how much this amounts to, but it is difficult to say exactly. Customs should check for illegally imported red diesel, but according to Roost and other sources, there is insufficient capacity for effective checks.
Photos: © Hester den Boer
