# EUR-Lex - 52014PC0704 - EN

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# 52014PC0704

**Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION amending Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 implementing Decision 2007/436/EC, Euratom on the system of the European Communities' own resources /* COM/2014/0704 final - 2014/0332 (CNS) */**

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1.           CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

The adjustment of Member States' national
contributions (own resources) based on Value Added Tax (VAT) and Gross National
Income (GNI), referred to in Regulation No 1150/2000 as ”VAT resources and the
additional resource”, to the financing of the Union budget takes place every
year on the first working day of December.

These adjustments vary from year to year.
As the data calculated in 2014 demonstrate, adjustments to GNI own resources
resulting in additional amounts to be made available by some Member States may
be exceptionally high because of major revisions made by Member States to their
GNI data for previous years.

As Member States provide the basic data to
the Commission, the global set of data with the impact on own resources for all
Member States is known only in October of each year.

According to the current rules in
Regulation No 1150/2000, these adjustments have to be made available on the
first working day of December. There is no discretion to agree on a later date.

In particular near the end of the financial
year, and if the amounts at stake are very high, this may put Member States in
a difficult budgetary situation and may even imply a significant risk for their
economic or financial stability.

2.           CONTENTS OF THE PROPOSAL

Therefore, under the following
circumstances, where the global amount is exceptionally high, Member States
shall have the possibility to make available the amount resulting from these
adjustments (the VAT and GNI balances) at any moment between the first working
day of December and the first working day of September of the following year:

(a) Excess of the individual threshold: if
the amount of VAT- and GNI balances regarding any Member State exceeds two
monthly twelfths to be made available as VAT resources and the additional
resource by that Member State, taking into account the effect on these
resources of the correction granted to the United Kingdom for budgetary
imbalances, according to current budgetary figures, or

(b) Excess of the global threshold: if the
total amount of adjustments regarding all Member States exceeds  half of the
normal twelfth to be made available as own resources based on VAT and GNI by
all Member States, taking into account the effect on these resources of the
correction granted to the United Kingdom for budgetary imbalances, according to
current budgetary figures.

In 2014, four Member States would be
entitled to postpone the making available because the individual threshold
(more than two normal twelfths) is exceeded. As for other years since 2002,
only in 2007 two Member States would have been entitled.

Nevertheless, as in 2014 also the global
threshold is exceeded (VAT and GNI balances for all Member States amount to 9.5
billion EUR, while half of a normal twelfth is less than 5 billion EUR), all
Member States may postpone the making available of these balances.  In all
other years since 2004, except 2007, the global threshold was not exceeded.

This amendment shall already apply to the
VAT and GNI balances to be entered in the Commission’s accounts on the first
working day of December 2014.

Each Member State who defers the making
available of the adjustments, fully or partly, should inform the Commission in
good time, and at any event before the first working day of December, of the
date or dates when the corresponding amounts will be made available. This date
or dates are binding. Accordingly, any delay in
making available the adjustments on the date or dates communicated to the
Commission should give rise to interest under the conditions of Article 11 of
Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000.

Regulation (EC,
Euratom) No 1150/2000 will be retroactively repealed by Regulation 609/2014[1] .Therefore,
the amendments made by this proposal would need to be taken into due
consideration in the context of the proposal to amend Regulation 609/2014,
which the Commission has committed to present by the end of March 2015[2].

2014/0332 (CNS)

Proposal for a

COUNCIL REGULATION

amending Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000
implementing Decision 2007/436/EC, Euratom on the system of the European
Communities' own resources

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 322(2) thereof,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the
European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 106a thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the
European Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the
European Parliament[3],

Having regard to the opinion of the
European Court of Auditors[4],

Whereas:

(1)       Pursuant to Article 10(4)
to (8) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000[5] the
Commission should calculate and inform Member States of adjustments to the own
resources referred to in Article 2(1)(b) and (c) of Council Decision
2007/436/EC, Euratom on the system of the European Communities’ own resources[6]
(VAT resources and the GNI-based own resource hereafter referred to as the
additional resource), in time for them to enter these adjustments in the Commission’s
account referred to in Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 on
the first working day of December.

(2)       Under exceptional
circumstances these adjustments may result in very high amounts which may
exceed substantially, as regards some Member States, two monthly twelfths to be
made available as VAT resources and the additional resource, and in total, for
all Member States, half of aggregate monthly twelfths.

(3)       For some Member States the
obligation to make available such high amounts may represent a high financial
burden which may cause a severe fiscal strain on the country, particularly
towards the end of the year.

(4)       Therefore Member States should
have the possibility to postpone the making available of these amounts until
the first working day of September of the following year if certain conditions are
met.

(5)       Any Member State which decides to apply this option should inform the Commission well in advance of the
first working day of December of the date or dates of making available the
adjustments, in order to allow an efficient management of the Union’s cash
requirements. Any delay in making available those adjustments on the date or
dates communicated to the Commission should give rise to interest under the
conditions of Article 11 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000.

(6)       This option should be
applicable for the first time for adjustments which, pursuant to Regulation (EC,
Euratom) no 1150/2000, would have to be entered in the Commission’s accounts on
the first working day of December 2014.

(7)       Regulation (EC, Euratom)
No 1150/2000 should therefore be amended accordingly.

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 is
hereby amended as follows:

A new paragraph 7a is introduced in Article
10:

'7a. By way of derogation from paragraphs 4
to 7 of this Article, a Member State may enter in the account referred to in
Article 9(1) of this Regulation amounts to be credited to the Commission
pursuant to these paragraphs until the first working day of September of the
following year, if one of the following conditions is fulfilled:

(a) 
if the Member State concerned would have to
enter in the account referred to in Article 9(1) of this Regulation on the
first working day of December an amount exceeding two twelfths of the total for
that Member State in the budget for VAT resources and the additional resource, as
referred to in paragraph 3, first subparagraph of this Article, as applicable
on 15 November of the same year, or

(b) 
if Member States in total would have to enter in
the account referred to in Article 9(1) of this Regulation on the first working
day of December a total amount exceeding one half of a twelfth of the total in
the budget for VAT resources and the additional resource, as referred to in paragraph
3, first subparagraph of this Article and applying the
exchange rates defined in that subparagraph, as
applicable on 15 November of the same year.

Member States may only apply the first
subparagraph if they have informed the Commission before the first working day
of December of their decision, and of the date or dates of entry of the amount of the adjustments in the account referred to in Article 9(1) of this
Regulation.

Any delay in entering
the amount of the adjustments in the account referred to in Article 9(1) of
this Regulation on the date or dates communicated to the Commission under the
second subparagraph shall give rise to the payment of interest by the Member
State concerned under the conditions of Article 11 of this Regulation.'

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the
day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Union.

It shall apply to amounts to be entered into the accounts referred to in Article
9(1) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 after 30 November 2014.

This Regulation shall be binding
in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels,

For
the Council

The
President

LEGISLATIVE FINANCIAL STATEMENT

1.           NAME OF THE PROPOSAL:

2.           BUDGET LINES:

Chapter and Article:

Amount budgeted for the year concerned:

3.           FINANCIAL IMPACT

 ̈      Proposal has no financial implications

 ̈      Proposal has no financial impact on expenditure but has a
financial impact on revenue – the effect is as follows:

(EUR
million to one decimal place)

|| ||

Budget line || Revenue[7] || 12 month period, starting dd/mm/yyyy || [Year n]

Article || Impact on own resources || ||

Article || Impact on own resources || ||

Situation following action

|| [n+1] || [n+2] || [n+3] || [n+4] || [n+5]

Article || || || || ||

Article || || || || ||

4.           ANTI-FRAUD MEASURES

5.           OTHER REMARKS

The amendments provide for the possibility for
Member States to make available adjustments of VAT resources and the additional
resource (chapters 31 and 32) in installments, provided their overall amount is
exceptionally high (excess of individual or a global threshold).

If Member States make use of this possibility
this may lead in 2014 to own resources made available only in 2015.

It is difficult to predict in advance to what
extent Member States would chose to defer payments.

Thresholds are very unlikely to be exceeded
each year. However, it cannot be predicted whether this will occur.

[1]               Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 609/2014 of 26
May 2014 on the methods and procedure for making available the traditional, VAT
and GNI-based own resources and on the measures to meet cash requirements
(Recast).

[2]               The joint statement entered into the Council minutes
of 26 May 2014 reads: "The Council and the Commission agree that,
by the end of March 2015 at the latest, the Commission will submit a proposal
for Article 12 of the Council Regulation on the methods and procedure for
making available the traditional, VAT and GNI-based own resources and on the
measures to meet cash requirements in order to allow a revision of the
procedure for calculating the interest on amounts made available belatedly.
Moreover, the rate(s) of interest shall respect the principle of
proportionality while ensuring a smooth functioning of the system to meet the
cash requirements."

[3]               OJ C , , p. .

[4]               OJ C , , p. .

[5]               OJ L 130, 31.5.2000,p. 1

[6]               OJ L 163, 23.6.2007, p. 17

[7]               In the case of traditional own resources
(agricultural duties, sugar levies, customs duties), the amounts indicated must
be net amounts, i.e. gross amounts after deduction of 25 % for collection
costs.