1978L1035 — EN — 19.11.1981 — 001.001 — 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
▼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 in Council Regulation (EEC) No 3060/78(
6);
Whereas finally it appears necessary to set special limits for certain
products because of the high level of taxation to 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 witha total value not exceeding ►M135 ECU ◄.
— are sent by the sender to the consignee without payment of any
kind.1978L1035 — EN — 19.11.1981 — 001.001 — 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)alcoholic beverages
— distilled beverages and spirits of an alcoholic strength
exceeding 22º: one standard bottle (not exceeding one litre),
or
— distilled beverages and spirits and aperitifs witha wine or
alcohol base, of an alcoholic strength not exceeding 22º; spark-ling wines and liqueur wines: one standard bottle (notexceeding one litre),
or
— still wines: two litres;
(c)perfumes: 50 grams,
ortoilet waters: 0·25 litre or eight ounces;
(d)coffee:500 grams,
orcoffee extracts and essences: 200 grams;
(e)tea:100 grams,
ortea extracts and essences: 40 grams.
2. The Member States shall have the right to reduce the quantities of
the products referred to in paragraph 1 eligible for exemption fromturnover tax and excise duties, or to abolishexemption for suchproducts 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 witheffect from 1 January of th e following year.
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 suchrounding-off doesnot exceed 2 EUA.1978L1035 — EN — 19.11.1981 — 001.001 — 3
(1) OJ No L 356, 31. 12. 1977, p. 1.
▼B
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 of
the amount of the exemption expressed in EUA would result in a
change of less than 5 % in the exemption expressed in nationalcurrency.
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 — 19.11.1981 — 001.001 — 4