1994L0004—EN—01.01.1995—001.001—1
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►B COUNCILDIRECTIVE94/4/EC
of14February1994
amending Directives 69/169/EEC and 77/388/EEC and increasing the level of allowances for
travellers fromthirdcountriesandthelimitsontax-free purchasesinintra-Communitytravel
(OJL60,3.3.1994,p.14)
Amendedby:
OfficialJournal
No page date
►M1CouncilDirective94/000/EC94/75/ECof22December1994 L365 52 31.12.1994
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COUNCILDIRECTIVE94/4/EC
of14February1994
amending Directives 69/169/EEC and 77/388/EEC and increasing
the level of allowances for travellers from third countries and the
limitsontax-free purchasesinintra-Communitytravel
THECOUNCILOFTHEEUROPEANUNION,
HavingregardtotheTreatyestablishingtheEuropeanCommunity,andinparticularArticle99thereof,
HavingregardtotheproposalfromtheCommission(
1),
HavingregardtotheopinionoftheEuropeanParliament(2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee(3),
Whereas Article 1 (1) of Council Directive 69/169/EEC of 28 May
1969ontheharmonization ofprovisionslaid downbylaw,regulationor administrative action relating to exemption from turnover tax and
excise duty on imports in international travel(
4) provides for allow-
ances in respect of goods contained in the personal luggage oftravellers coming from third countries on condition that such importshavenocommercialcharacter;
Whereas the total value of the goods eligible for this exemption may
notexceed ECU45perperson;whereas,inaccordance withArticle 1(2)ofDirective69/169/EEC,MemberStatesmayreducetheallowancetoECU23fortravellersunder15yearsofage;
Whereas account must be taken of measures in favour of travellers
recommended by specialized international organizations, in particularthe measures contained in Annex F.3 to the International Convention
ontheSimplificationandHarmonizationofCustomsProcedures;
Whereas these objectives could be attained by increasing the allow-
ances;
Whereas it is necessary to provide, for a limited period, a derogation
for Germany, taking into account the economic difficulties likely to
be caused by the amount of the allowances, particularly as regards
travellers entering the territory of that Member State byland frontierslinkingGermanytocountriesotherthanMemberStatesandtheEFTAmembersorbymeansofcoastalnavigationcomingfromthesaidcoun-tries;
Whereas there are special links between continental Spain and the
CanaryIslands,CeutaandMelilla;
Whereas it is necessary to ensure, during the period when these sales
are authorized pursuant to the provisions of Article 28k of CouncilDirective 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonization of thelaws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes — Common
systemof value added tax: uniformbasis of assessm ent(
5), that the
real value ofgoodslikely to be sold in tax-free shopsto travellers onintra-Communityflightsorseacrossingsismaintained,1994L0004—EN—01.01.1995—001.001—2
(1) OJNoC102,14.4.1984,p.10andOJNoC78,26.3.1985,p.9.
(2) OJNoC 46,18.2.1985,p.75 and opiniondelivered on20 January1994
(notyetpublishedintheOfficialJournal).
(3) OJNoC248,17.9.1984,p.26.
(4) OJNoL 133, 4. 6.1969,p. 6.Directive as last amended by Directive 92/
111/EEC(OJNoL384,30.12.1992,p.47).
(5) OJNoL145,13.6.1977,p.1.DirectiveaslastamendedbyDirective92/
111/EEC(OJNoL384,30.12.1992,p.47).
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HASADOPTEDTHISDIRECTIVE:
Article 1
Directive69/169/EECisherebyamendedasfollows:1. inArticle1(1),‘ECU45’shallbereplacedby‘ECU175’;
2. inArticle1(2),‘ECU23’shallbereplacedby‘ECU90’;3. Article7bshallbereplacedbythefollowing:
‘Article 7b
1. By way of derogation fromArticle 1 (1), Spain is hereby
authorized to apply, until 31 December 2000, an allowance of
ECU600forimportsofthegoodsinquestionbytravellerscoming
fromthe Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla who enter the territoryof Spain as definied in Article 3 (2) and (3) of Directive 77/388/EEC.
2. BywayofderogationfromArticle1(2),Spainshallhavethe
option of reducing that allowance to ECU 150 for travellers under
15yearsofage.’
Article 2
InArticle28kofDirective77/388/EEC,thefirstsubparagraphofpoint
2(a)shallbereplacedbythefollowing:
‘(a) the total value of which per person per journey does not
exceedECU90.
Bywayofderogation from Article 28m,Member States shall
determine the equivalent in national currency of the above
amount in accordance with Article 7 (2) of Directive 69/169/
EEC.’
Article 3
1. Member States shall bring into force the provisions necessary to
comply with this Directive by 1 April 1994 at the latest. They shall
forthwithinformtheCommissionthereof.
WhenMemberStatesadopttheseprovisions,theyshallcontainarefer-
encetothisDirectiveorshallbeaccompaniedbysuchreferenceontheoccasion of their official publication. The methods of making such areferenceshallbelaiddownbytheMemberStates.
2. Bywayofderogation fromparagraph1,theFederalRepublic of
GermanyandtheRepublicofAustriashallbeauthorizedtobringintoforce the measures necessary to comply with this Directive by 1January 1998 at the latest for goods imported by travellers entering
German or Austrian territory by a land frontier linking Germany or
AustriatocountriesotherthanMemberStatesandtheEFTAmembersor,whereapplicable, bymeansofcoastal navigation coming fromthesaidcountries.
However,fromtheentryintoforceofthe1994AccessionTreaty,those
Member States shall apply an allowance of not less then ECU 75 toimportsbythetravellersreferredtointheprecedingsubparagraph.
3. MemberStatesshallcommunicate totheCommissionthetextof
the provisions of domestic law which they adopt in the field covered
bythisDirective.
Article 4
ThisDirectiveshallenterintoforceonthedayofitspublicationinthe
Official Journal of the European Communities .1994L0004—EN—01.01.1995—001.001—3
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Article 5
ThisDirectiveisaddressedtotheMemberStates.1994L0004—EN—01.01.1995—001.001—4