Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC, EURATOM) amending Council Regulation (EEC, EURATOM) No 1552/89 implementing Decision 94/728/EC, EURATOM on the system of the Communities' own resources (97/C 267/09) COM(97) 343 final - 97/0188 (CNS)

(submitted by the Commission on 4 July 1997)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 209 thereof,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 183 thereof,

Having regard to Decision 94/728/EC, Euratom of 31 October 1994 on the system of the Communities' resources (1), and in particular Article 8 (1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Having regard to the opinion of the Court of Auditors,

Whereas in the light of experience gained in applying Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1552/89 of 29 May 1989 implementing Decision 94/728/EC, Euratom on the system of the Communities' own resources (2), it appears that the provisions of that Regulation must be adjusted;

Whereas the transparency of the own resources system must be improved by specifying the conditions for satisfying the obligation to establish the own resources referred to in Article 2 of Decision 94/728/EC, Euratom, in particular in cases where the competent administrative authorities do not make an entry in the accounts for the customs debt on the basis of the customs legislation;

Whereas it is important to strengthen the procedure for waiving entitlements when their actual recovery is doubtful; whereas there should be a time limit, on expiry of which the amounts not recovered despite the efforts made by the Member States may be removed from the separate account referred to in Article 6 (2) (b) of Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1552/89;

Whereas, for amounts exceeding ECU 50 000, the Member States are required to inform the Commission, which then has six months to announce its opposition; whereas, in this event, the Member State concerned is obliged to make available the amount in question;

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION

Article 1

Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1552/89 is amended as follows:

1. In Article 2, the following paragraph 1c shall be added:

'1c. In cases where the competent administrative authorities do not make an entry in the accounts for the customs debt on the basis of the customs regulations, even though the debtor is known and the amount due may be calculated, and the amount involved exceeds ECU 2 000, an ad hoc entry is made in the account referred to in Article 6 (2) (a) without notification of the debtor for the purposes of the establishment referred to in paragraph 1.`

2. In Article 17:

(a) paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following:

'2. Member States shall be released from the obligation to place at the disposal of the Commission the amounts corresponding to established entitlements which prove irrecoverable:

(a) either for reasons of force majeure;

(b) or in specific cases for reasons which cannot be attributed to them.

The unrecovered amounts shall be removed from the separate account referred to in Article 6 (2) (b). They shall be included in the quarterly statement referred to in Article 6 (3) (b) and, whereas applicable, in the quarterly statement referred to in Article 6 (4):

- as soon as an administrative decision confirms that they cannot be recovered,

- at the latest, after a period of five years from the date on which the amount has been notified in accordance with Article 2 or, in the event of an administrative or judicial appeal, from notification of the final decision.`

(b) Paragraph 3 shall be replaced by the following:

'3. Within three months of the administrative decision mentioned in paragraph 2 or in accordance with the time limit referred to in the second indent of that paragraph, the Member States shall provide the Commission with information on cases where paragraph 2 is being applied if the established entitlements involved exceed ECU 50 000, converted into national currency at the rate applying on the first working day of October of the previous calendar year.

This report, to be made on a model produced by the Commission after consulting the committee referred to in Article 20, must enable the Commission to assess the reasons referred to in paragraphs 2 (a) and (b) which prevented the Member State concerned from making available the amounts in question and the measures taken by the Member State to ensure recovery.`

(c) The following paragraph 4 shall be added:

'4. The Commission must adopt a decision within six months of receipt of the report provided for in paragraph 3 if it considers that the conditions set out in the first subparagraph of paragraph 2 have not been met. In this case, the Member State concerned is obliged to make available to the Commission the amount corresponding to the unrecovered entitlements at the latest on the first working day after the 19th day of the second month following the month during which it was notified of the decision.

If the Commission remains silent for six months, the Member State is released from its obligation to make available the amounts written off.`.

(d) Paragraph 3 is renumbered paragraph 5 and its final subparagraph is replaced by the following:

'By 30 September of the same financial year the Commission shall send to the European Parliament and to the Council a summary report on the notifications by the Member States under this Article and Article 6 (4).`

Article 2

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

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

(1) OJ L 293, 12. 11. 1994, p. 9.

(2) OJ L 155, 7. 6. 1989, p. 1, as amended by Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 3464/93 of 10 December 1993 (OJ L 317, 18. 12. 1993, p. 1), Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2729/94 of 31 October 1994 (OJ No 293, 12. 11. 1994, p. 5) and Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 1355/96 of 8 July 1996 (OJ L 175, 13. 7. 1996, p. 3).