1978L1035 — EN — 24.12.1985 — 002.001 — 1
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►B COUNCILDIRECTIVE
of19December 1978
ontheexemptionfromtaxesofimportsofsmallconsignmentsofgoodsofanon-commercialchar-
acter fromthirdcountries
(78/1035/EEC)
(OJ L 366, 28.12.1978, p. 34)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Council Directive 81/933/EEC of 17 November 1981 L 338 24 25.11.1981
►M2Council Directive 85/576/EEC of 20 December 1985 L 372 30 31.12.1985
▼B
COUNCILDIRECTIVE
of19December 1978
on the exemption from taxes of imports of small consignments of
goodsofanon-commercial character fromthirdcountries
(78/1035/EEC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, and in particular Article 99 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee(3),
Whereas Council Directive 74/651 /EEC of 19 December 1974 on the
tax reliefs to be allowed on the importation of goods in small consign-ments of a noncommercial character within the Community(
4), as
amended by Directive 78/1034/EEC(5), laid down the limits and condi-
tions under which such consignments may be exempted from value
added tax and from any other taxes on consumption;
Whereas Community rules should likewise be laid down for the
exemption from turnover taxes and excise duties of imports of smallconsignments of a similar nature from third countries;
Whereas to that end the limits within which such exemption is to be
applied should, for practical reasons, be as far as possible the same as
those laid down by the arrangements for exemption from customs
duties inCoun cil Regulation(EEC) No 3060/78(
6);
Whereas finally it appears necessary to set special limits for certain
products because of the high level of taxationto which they are atpresent subject in the Member States,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Article 1
1. Goods in small consignments of a non-commercial character sent
from a third country by private persons to other private persons in a
Member State shall be exempt on importation from turnover tax and
excise duty.
2. For the purposes of paragraph 1, ‘small consignments of a non-
commercial character’ means consignments which:
— are of an occasional nature,
— contain only goods intended for the personal or family use of the
consignees, the nature and quantity of which do not indicate that
they are being imported for any commercial purpose,
— contain goods with a total value not exceeding ►M245 ECU ◄.
— are sent by the sender to the consignee without payment of any
kind.1978L1035 — EN — 24.12.1985 — 002.001 — 2
(1) OJ No C 18, 25. 1. 1975, p. 6; OJ No C 213, 7. 9. 1978, p. 11.
(2) OJ No C 261, 6. 11. 1978, p. 46,
(3) Opinion delivered on 19 October 1978 (not yet published in the Official
Journal).
(4) OJ No L 354, 30. 12. 1974, p. 57.
(5) See page 33 of this Official journal.
(6) See page 1 of this Official journal.
▼B
Article 2
1. Article I shall apply to the goods listed below subject to the
following quantitative limits:
(a)tobacco products
50 cigarettes,
or 25 cigarillos (cigars of a maximum weight of three grams each),
or 10 cigars,
or 50 grams of smoking tobacco;
(b)alcohol and alcoholic beverages:
— distilled beverages and spirits of an alcoholic strength
exceeding 22 % vol.; undenatured ethyl alcohol of 80 % vol.and over: one standard bottle (up to 1 litre),
or
— distilled beverages and spirits, and aperitifs with a wine or
alcohol base, tafia, saké or similar beverages of analcoholicstrength of 22 % vol. or less; sparkling wines, fortified wines:one standard bottle (up to 1 litre),
or
— still wines: two litres;
(c)perfumes: 50 grams,
or
toilet waters: 0·25 litre or eight ounces;
(d)coffee:500 grams,
or
coffee extracts and essences: 200 grams;
(e)tea:100 grams,
or
tea extracts and essences: 40 grams.
2. The Member States shall have the right to reduce the quantities of
the products referred to inparagraph 1 eligible for exemptionfrom
turnover tax and excise duties, or to abolish exemption for such
products altogether.
3. Under no circumstances shall tax exemption granted for small
consignments from non-member countries exceed that applicable tosmall consignments sent within the Community.
Article 3
Goods listed. in Article 2 contained in a small consignment of a non-
commercial character in quantities exceeding those laid down in thesaid Article shall be excluded in their entirety from exemption.
Article 4
1. For the purpose of this Directive, ‘European unit of account’
(EUA) shall be as defined in the Financial Regulation of 21 December
1977(
1).
2. The EUA equivalent in national currency which shall apply for
the implementation of this Directive shall be fixed once a year. Therates applicable shall be those obtaining on the first working day ofOctober with effect from 1 January of the following year.1978L1035 — EN — 24.12.1985 — 002.001 — 3
(1) OJ No L 356, 31. 12. 1977, p. 1.▼M2
▼B
▼B
3. Member States may round off the amounts in national currency
resulting from the conversion of the amounts in European units ofaccount provided for in Article 1 (2), provided such rounding-off does
not exceed 2 EUA.
4. Member States may maintain the amount of the exemption in
force at the time of the annual adjustment provided for in paragraph 2if, prior to the rounding-off provided for in paragraph 3, conversion ofthe amount of the exemption expressed in EUA would result in achange of less than 5 % in the exemption expressed in national
currency.
Article 5
1. Member States shall bring into force the measures necessary to
comply with this Directive no later than 1 January 1979.
2. Member States shall inform the Commission of the provisions
which they adopt to implement this Directive. The Commission shallinform the other Member States thereof.
Article 6
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.1978L1035 — EN — 24.12.1985 — 002.001 — 4