No C 90/16 Official Journal of the European Communities 5. 4. 83 
Opinion on the 
— communication from the Commission to the Council on the strengthening of the internal 
market (*) 
— draft Council resolution on the easing of the formalities relating to checks on citizens of 
Member States at the Community's internal frontiers (**) 
— proposal for 
— a Council Regulation simplifying customs formalities in trade within the Community 
— a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 2102/77 introducing 
a Community export declaration form 
-^- a Council Regulation amending for the fifth time Regulation (EEC) No 222/77 on 
Community transit (* * *) 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 27 July 1982 the Council referred the abovementioned proposal to the Economic and 
Social Committee in accordance with Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 205th 
plenary session held in Brussels on 23 and 24 February 1983. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
(*) The text of the 'communication' referred to the Committee has not yet been published in the 
Official Journal of the European Communities. 
(* *) The text of the 'resolution' referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of 
the European Communities No C 197 of 31 July 1982, page 6. 
(***) The texts of the 'proposals' referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of 
the European Communities No C 203 of 6 August 1982, page 5. 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 198 
thereof, 
Having regard to the request made by the Council of 
the European Communities on 27 July 1982 for an 
opinion on the 
— communication from the Commission to the 
Council on the strengthening of the internal market 
— draft Council resolution on the easing of the 
formalities relating to checks on citizens of Member 
States at the Community's internal frontiers 
— and the proposals for a Council Regulation simplifying customs 
formalities in trade within the Community 
a Council Regulation amending Council 
Regulation (EEC) No 2102/77 introducing a 
Community export declaration form 
a Council Regulation amending for the fifth 
time Regulation (EEC) No 222/77 on 
Community transit, 
Having regard to the decision taken by its Bureau on 
13 October 1982 instructing the Section for Industry, 
Commerce, Crafts and Services to draw up an opinion 
and report on the matter, 
5. 4. 83 Official Journal of the European Communities NoC 90/17 
Having regard to the opinion adopted by the Section for 
Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services at its 89th and 
90th meetings on 5 January and 2 February 1983, 
Having regard to the oral report made by the 
rapporteur, Mr Broicher, 
Having regard to the discussions on 24 February 1983 
during the 205th plenary session held on 23 and 
24 February 1983, 
Having regard to the presidency's conclusions on the 
proceedings of the European Council held in 
Copenhagen on 3 and 4 December 1982, 
Whereas the Rome Treaty objective of ensuing 
economic and social progress by common action fo 
eliminate the barriers which divide Europe remains as 
valid as ever; 
Whereas the intensive efforts of the European 
Parliament, the Commission and the ESC to remove 
these barriers have often been nullified by the inaction 
of the Council and, 25 years after the founding of the 
EEC, a great number of these barriers thus still remain 
in force and have been further reinforced by national 
protectionist measures and technical trade barriers; 
Whereas individuals moving between EEC Member 
States, whether for work or leisure, still encounter 
major administrative and legal obstacles which are 
clearly in conflict with the broad political, economic 
and social aims of an ever closer union among the 
peoples of Europe; 
Whereas these barriers conceal and misrepresent the 
real and substantial measures taken to increase the 
degree of interdependence and integration between the 
countries of the European Community; 
Whereas these barriers are nonetheless a serious and 
costly obstacle to economic and social development and 
hinder optimal advantage being taken of the potential 
economies of scale and specialization in a true European 
market; 
Whereas the weakness of certain sectors of European 
industry in both European and world markets, and the 
accompanying loss of job opportunities, is to a 
significant extent attributable to the incomplete nature 
of the common market and the absence of appropriate 
common policies, HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
with 2 votes against and 2 abstentions: 
1. Introduction 
1.1. The Commission has transmitted a package of 
proposals (*) concerning the internal market to the 
Council. These are to be regarded as part of a whole 
with the global objective of facilitating frontier controls 
of persons and goods and reinforcing the internal 
market. In its communication the Commission correctly 
points out that the formalities and checks at the 
Community's internal borders are virtually identical to 
those at its frontiers with non-member countries, 
thereby imposing unnecessary costs on the business 
community. 
1.2.1. The Commission, in its communication to the 
Council of 8 July 1981 on the internal market, has tried 
to quantify the impact of these barriers to trade and 
arrives at an estimated added cost to the EEC economy 
of 5 to 10 % of the value of intra-Community trade. Mr 
Basil de Ferranti, MEP, in a statement to the House of 
Lords' Select Committee on the European Community, 
put the cost to companies involved in intra-Community 
trade of crossing those borders which still exist between 
the member countries, at 12 billion ECU — i.e. about 
the same annual cost as the agricultural fund. 
1.2.2. In road haulage alone (excluding administrative 
costs, customs clearance and audit) the Advisory 
Committee on Transport in a report to the Commission 
in April 1982 estimated the unnecessary frontier transit 
costs at 370 million ECU annually. Although these 
figures are only broad estimates and should be treated 
with all due caution the Committee cannot but agree 
with the Commission that present formalities and 
controls at the internal frontiers impose excessive and 
unnecessary costs on industry with consequent negative 
effects upon its competitivity vis-a-vis third countries. 
Moreover the cost and complexity of these formalities 
(!) — Communication on the internal market, 
— Checks on citizens at internal frontiers (OJ No C 197, 
31.7. 1982, p. 6), 
— Community export declaration form (OJ No C 203, 
6. 8. 1982, p. 5), 
— Deferred payment of VAT (OJ No C 203, 6. 8. 1982, 
p. 11), 
— Frontier crossings in trade between Member States. 
No C 90/18 Official Journal of the European Communities 5. 4. 83 
are a major hindrance to many firms, in particular 
SME's, preventing them from exploiting their full 
potential and taking advantage of the opportunities in 
the EEC for greater international specialization through 
expansion beyond the frontiers of their home country. 
1.3.1. The Committee is, like most other responsible 
authorities at both Community and national level, 
extremely concerned about the growth of 
unemployment, the recent decline in total employment 
and the lack of competitiveness of many sectors of the 
Community's economy. It considers that in response to 
these problems the first step must be to re-stimulate the 
economy and that the Community and its Member 
States must in the first instance rely on their own 
coordinated efforts to do this. 
1.3.2. It is the Committee's deeply-held conviction that 
such efforts will not have the desired effects, and will 
not produce long-lasting solutions to the deep-seated 
economic and social problems facing the peoples of 
Europe, and in particular the problem of 
unemployment, unless they are placed firmly in the 
Community context. An essential element within this 
context is the achievement of a real, effective and 
meaningful common market. Steps to complete this 
common market and particularly the abolition of 
technical trade barriers and administrative and 
transport barriers are an urgent and vital part of a 
European strategy for economic and social regeneration. 
1.3.3. Such a strategy will have to be based on 
strengthening industries and services, and thus creating 
viable, permanent jobs. If these aims are to be achieved, 
the scope of Community policies will have to be 
widened. 
1.3.4. Action on all the above measures is urgent, for 
the longer corrective action is delayed, the more 
intractable the problems will become. 
1.4.1. In its conclusions from the Copenhagen meeting 
of 3 and 4 December 1982, the European Council 
agreed not only to support the abovementioned 
measures but to demand that a time scale for these 
actions should be established; in this context it 
specifically instructed the Council 'to decide, before the 
end of March 1983, on the priority measures proposed 
by the Commission to reinforce the internal market'. 
1.4.2. The Committee endorses the conclusions of the 
European Council of 3 and 4 December 1982. It 
supports the Commission's proposals subject to the reservations below. The Committee also urges the 
Council to lose no time in attending to the proposed 
additions to the text set out in the communication, 
some of which have been on the table for years. 
2. General comments 
2.1. The communication refers repeatedly to the 
European Parliament's resolutions calling for further 
relaxation of formalities at the Community's internal 
frontiers. Surprisingly however, it ignores similar 
proposals and recommendations made by the Economic 
and Social Committee, which has always in the past 
supported any measures designed to reinforce the 
Community's internal market, for instance, in the own-
initiative opinion of 21 November 1979 on the problem 
of trade barriers and the alignment of laws in this area 
(1), and the opinion of 28 April 1982 on the 1982 pro­
gramme for the attainment of the customs union (2). 
2.2. On the subject of checks on citizens at internal 
frontiers (**) the Committee attaches particular 
significance to the Council's request to the Commission 
'to investigate other practical possibilities of further 
reducing the checks on citizens of the Member States at 
the Community's internal frontiers' (point 5 of the draft 
resolution). 
2.3. Another possibility might be a significant increase 
in the quota of duty-free goods to which citizens are 
entitled when crossing internal frontiers. The real value 
of this has not been raised for years, and it has only 
been partially adjusted to inflation. The Committee 
accordingly considers it advisable to increase duty-free 
allowances, in order to remind citizens that the internal 
market is a reality. Duty-free allowances are governed 
by the various Council Directives (3) on the 
harmonization of provisions laid down by law, 
regulation or administrative action relating to 
exemption *• from turnover tax and excise duty on 
imports in international travel. 
2.4. The Committee welcomes draft Regulation (***) 
which is designed (a) to eliminate differences in national 
formalities in intra-Community trade and (b) to 
harmonize procedures by introducing a standard 
document for dispatch transit and home use of goods. 
In this connection, the Commission rightly complains 
(») OJ No C 72, 24. 3. 1980. 
(2) OJ No C 178, 15. 7. 1982. 
(3) Council Directive 69/169/EEC et al. 
5. 4. 83 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 90/19 
that intra-Community trade is still seen in terms of 
'imports' and 'exports' both of which are regulated by 
customs procedures despite the fact that customs duties 
have been abolished within the Community. 
The introduction of a standard document should help to 
reduce the costs of formalities and thus make goods 
more competitive, an important consideration 
particularly for small and medium-sized firms. At all 
events, certain ambiguities in the draft Regulation will 
have to be removed if the desired objective of 
streamlining intra-Community trade is to be achieved. 
3. Specific comments 
COM(82) 400 fin. (»*) 
3.1. The Committee feels that the point raised in 2.3 
should be specifically mentioned in the series of 
measures. 
COM(82) 401 fin. — Article 4 (***) 
3.2. Article 4 merely proposes that the single 
document be introduced. The actual lay-out of the 
document is to be decided on later. Such separation is 
illogical. Any assessment of the proposal's feasibility 
and practicability will largely hinge on the extent to 
which the proposed single document can be used. The 
format is of course crucial in this connection and it is 
here that the real difficulties lie. The Committee is in the 
process of examining the proposed detailed specimen, 
and intends to issue an opinion on this in the near 
future. However, the Committee feels that the following 
aspects deserve particular attention. 
3.2.1. The forms currently used in intra-Community 
trade have a significant number of national features 
which are geared in particular to national statistical 
requirements. The data on the new form must be kept 
to an absolute minimum. Otherwise it will be 
impossible to devise a viable single document. 
3.2.2. The present documents contain information 
which is intended for the recipient only, and which 
cannot be made public. In using the single document 
care will therefore have to be taken to ensure that 
certain information appears only on certain copies. 
3.2.3. The data on the single document should be cut 
down to the point where the document can be completed on an ordinary typewriter. In addition, the 
forms should be suitable for data-processing. 
3.2.4. The Committee is pleased to learn that, contrary 
to its original intentions, the Commission now proposes 
to have the declaration designed in such a way that 
several items can be shown on it. This is necessary for a 
number of reasons, not least the retention of existing 
simplified formalities. 
3.2.5. The second sentence of Article 4 (2) permits any 
Member State other than that in which the dispatch 
formalities were completed to require a translation of 
declarations into its official language. Although the 
format of the declaration — with the information given 
in a specific, code-numbered sequence with a legend — 
in theory makes translations superfluous, these may 
nevertheless be needed. The Committee fears that 
excessive use may be made of this provision so that a 
new document will always have to be supplied at the 
time of import, thereby entailing as much time and cost 
as the proposed measures would save. The Committee 
accordingly recommends that the sentence be re-worded 
in such a way as to preclude this difficulty. 
COM(82) 401 fin. — Article 10 (***) 
3.3. Article 10 stipulates that the new rules should not 
jeopardize existing arrangements, and that simplified 
procedures, which have already proved to be highly 
useful and practical should remain intact. Article 10 (2) 
refers specifically to the simplified formalities between 
Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The 
Committee believes it necessary to retain all similar 
clearance facilities between other Member States which 
help to cut down the number of documents and data. In 
the event of their being abolished, many firms would 
incur heavier personnel and material costs, and this 
would be a retrograde step. To avoid any ambiguity, it 
should be made absolutely clear that simplified national 
procedures will be allowed to stand. 
3.3.1. At present, in cases where several consignments 
are cleared together, various Member States require 
only periodic block declarations and only one copy of 
the accounts and delivery documents for individual 
consignments. To require a separate single document 
for each individual consignment in such cases would be 
an unwarranted additional burden. 
3.3.2. The proposed new rules must not interfere with 
the present special schemes which permit firms to notify 
No C 90/20 Official Journal of the European Communities 5. 4. 83 
exports directly to the statistics offices of Member 
States (either on magnetic tape or computer print-outs). 
These arrangements must be retained if the aim is to 
create or maintain domestic market conditions within 
the Community, i.e. to improve the position of 
intra-Community trade vis-a-vis exports to third 
countries. 
3.3.3. In addition, the loading lists appended to or 
forming the descriptive part of Community transit 
declarations for grouped consignments must be retained 
in order to obviate the need to complete a separate 
Done at Brussels, 24 February 1983. 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 99, 
100 and 198 thereof, 
Having regard to the Council's request of 22 July 1982 
for an opinion on the proposal for a 14th Council 
Directive on the harmonization of the laws of the single document for each individual consignment. 
Otherwise intra-Community trade in Community 
products would be less-favourably treated than exports 
to non-Member countries. 
4. The Committee is now drafting an opinion on 
specific aspects of the specimen single document. It 
firmly believes however that the concept of such a 
document deserves support. It therefore feels that steps 
must be taken to eliminate the abovementioned 
difficulties. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Francois CEYRAC 
Member States relating to turnover taxes — deferred 
payment of the tax payable on importation by taxable 
persons (1), 
Having regard to the Committee chairman's decision of 
16 August 1982 and the Bureau's decision of 
H OJ No C 203, 6. 8. 1982, p. 11. Opinion on the proposal for a 14th Council Directive on the harmonization of the laws of 
the Member States relating to turnover taxes — deferred payment of the tax payable on 
importation by taxable persons 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the European 
Communities No C 203 of 6 August 1982, page 11. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 22 July 1982 the Council referred the abovementioned proposal to the Economic and 
Social Committee in accordance with Articles 99, 100 and 198 of the Treaty establishing the 
European Economic Community. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 205th 
plenary session held in Brussels on 23 and 24 February 1983. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: