30It follows from a combined reading of all the provisions referred to in the two preceding paragraphs that mineral oils are subject to excise duty on the basis of their production within or their importation into the territory of the Community alone and that excise duties are, as a rule, also chargeable on shortages and losses in respect of which exemptions have not been granted by the competent authorities. The exemption provided by the first sentence of Article 14(1) of Directive 92/12 for losses attributable to force majeure constitutes a derogation from that general rule, which must therefore, as the Advocate General pointed out at point 43 of her Opinion, be interpreted strictly.
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