COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
C0M(91) 18 final - SYN 181 
Brussels, 7 February 1991 
Amendment to the proposal for a 
COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) 
on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States 
(presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 149(3) 
of the EEC-Treaty) 
(sea* 
i 
a • ji?J|r* 
Explanatory memorandum 
1. The European Parliament has examined at first reading the proposal for a Council 
Regulation (EEC) on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member 
States presented by the Commission on 11 January 1989 and amended by it on 17 May 
and 24 September 1990; Parliament has adopted a series of amendments and has again 
asked the Commission to amend its proposal. 
2. Of the amendments that the Commission can accept, four relate solely to form, one 
underlines the utility of statistics, and three emphasize the rôle that Parliament wishes to 
play in the future regulation of statistics on the internal market. 
3. The amendment concerning statistical thresholds makes it possible both to include in the 
basic regulations a minimum limit in absolute figures and to allow the Commission to 
decide, once the appropriate studies have been concluded, how the different parties 
responsible for providing statistical information are to be composed. Furthermore, it 
does not preclude the possibility of adopting suitable provisions for Member States 
whose commercial structure might require special measures. 
Amendment to the proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) on the 
statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States<1> 
(Presented by the Commission on pursuant to Article 149(3) of 
the EEC Treaty) 
The Commission presented the above-mentioned proposal to the Council on 
24 September 1990. Following the opinion delivered by Parliament at 
its sitting on 22 November 1990, the proposal has been amended as 
fol lows: 
1) add the following text at the end of the fourth recital: "and this 
kind of information could prove to be one of the means, among 
others, of assessing the development of economic and social 
cohesion*,"; 
2) delete the section In the seventh recital beginning "In order to 
prevent Member States from replacing ...." and ending ".... 
whatever their customs and tax status or the cause of their being 
moved ;"; 
3) add "Including electric current" to the end of Article 2(b); 
4) in Article 4(1)(d), add "In cooperation with the European 
Parliament" after ".... shall determine"; 
5) replace the text of Article 14 by the following: 
"Failure by any party responsible for providing statistical 
Information to fulfil his obligations under this Regulation shall 
be penalized by the Member States In accordance with their national 
provisions."; 
6) In Article 16 replace "The Commission shall report to the Council 
on the functioning of the Intrastat system ...." by "The Commission 
shall report to the Council and the European Parliament on the 
functioning of the Intrastat system ...."; 
7) delete Article 17(2); 
8) add "In cooperation with the European Parliament" to the end of 
Article 27; 
(1) 0J No C 254, 9.10.1990, p. 7. 
9) add the following second paragraph to Article 28(3): 
"The total accumulated levels of, firstly, the exclusion thresholds 
and, secondly, the simplification thresholds fixed by the 
Commission pursuant to paragraph 2 must be at least ECU 100 000, 
expressed In annual values of Intra-Communlty trade operations, 
except where In a given Member State the combined effects of these 
thresholds would entail, either on dispatch or on arrival, a loss 
of the Information provided for In Articles 21, 22 and 23 exceeding 
by one-third or more the average loss of the other Member states.". H 
Statement» describing the Impact on SUE» «nH ™ —>«ft">"* 
The Impact statements annexed to the initial proposal and to the two 
amended proposals continue to apply. However, the following comments 
are rendered necessary following the amendment of Article 28. 
1. Administrâtlva obligations on enterprises arising from the 
application of the, legislation 
The amendment to Article 28(3) clarifies further the obligation to 
make a detailed statistical return, an obligation which will 
henceforth apply only to undertakings whose annual Intra-Communlty 
trade operations, on dispatch or on arrival, exceed the minimum 
threshold of ECU 100 000. 
2. Advantages for tha enterprise / 3. Disadvantages for the 
enterprise 
As a result, all enterprises below the threshold at which a 
detailed statistical return Is required will benefit from a degree 
of exemption or simplification, and the limit between the different 
categories will be fixed by the Commission after It has examined 
the results of studies In progress In the nine Member States on the 
concentration of enterprises In the trade between Member States. A 
safeguard clause has nevertheless had to be provided to guarantee 
that all Member States receive a satisfactory level of statistical 
Information, irrespective of their economic structure. 

ISSN 0254-1475 G 
COM(91) 18 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 02 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-91-046-EN-C 
ISBN 92-77-69246-4 
PRICE 1-30 pages: 3.50 ECU per additional 10 pages: 1.25 ECU 
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 
L-2985 Luxembourg