3. 6. 83 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 145/5 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
COMMISSION 
Proposal for a Council Decision on the Communities' system of own resources 
(Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 5 May 1983) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN 
COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the 
European Economic Community, and in particular 
Article 201 thereof, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the 
European Atomic Energy Community, and in 
particular Article 173 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 Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Whereas the Council Decision of 21 April 1970 on 
the replacement of financial contributions from 
Member States by the Communities' own resources 
(*), hereinafter referred to as 'the Decision of 21 April 
1970', introduced a Community system of own 
resources; 
Whereas the own resources system should be 
diversified and extended while retaining the existing 
sources of revenue introduced by the Decision of 
21 April 1970; 
Whereas customs duties on products within the scope 
of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and 
Steel Community should be included in the 
Communities' own resources; 
Whereas the 1 % limit to the rate applied to the 
uniform basis for assessing value added tax, laid 
down in the Decision of 21 April 1970, should be 
abolished; whereas at the same time, in order to 
(') OJ No L 94, 28. 4. 1970, p. 19. reinforce budgetary discipline, increases in the auth­
orized rate of value added tax should be expressed in 
fractions of a percentage point; 
Whereas, furthermore, for as long as guarantee 
expenditure in support of agricultural production 
exceeds a certain proportion of the budget of the 
Communities, variable rates of value added tax 
should apply, taking into account certain economic 
indicators, 
HAS LAID DOWN THESE PROVISIONS, WHICH IT 
RECOMMENDS TO THE MEMBER STATES FOR 
ADOPTION: 
Article 1 
The budget of the Communities shall, irrespective of 
other revenue, be financed entirely from the 
Communities' own resources. 
Article 2 
Revenue from: 
(a) levies, premium, additional or compensatory 
amounts, additional amounts or factors and other 
duties established or to be established by the 
institutions of the Communities in respect of 
trade with non-member countries within the 
framework of the common agricultural policy, 
and also contributions and other duties provided 
for within the framework of the organization of 
the markets in sugar; 
(b) Common Customs Tariff duties and other duties 
established or to be established by the institutions 
of the Communities in respect of trade with non-
member countries, including customs duties on 
products within the scope of the Treaty 
establishing the European Coal and Steel 
Community; 
shall constitute own resources to be entered in the 
budget of the Communities. 
Article 3 
1. Shall also constitute own resources, revenue 
accruing from the application of the value added tax 
No C 145/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 3. 6. 83 
to an assessment basis which is determined in a 
uniform manner for Member States according to 
Community rules, and obtained in accordance with 
the provisions of this Article. 
2. Revenue shall be obtained by the application of 
a uniform rate of value added tax. Subject to 
paragraph 6, this rate shall be fixed within the 
framework of the budgetary procedure, taking into 
account all other receipts. 
3. In addition, as long as expenditure under the 
European Agriculture Guarantee and Guidance Fund, 
Guarantee Section (less expenditure on food aid and 
expenditure under the sugar protocol with the ACP 
states) exceeds 33 % of total expenditure, variable 
rates of value added tax shall apply. Such rates shall 
be fixed taking into account Member States' shares in 
the final agricultural production of products subject 
to common market organizations and in the net 
operating surplus of the Community, and their gross 
domestic product per capita defined by the average of 
indices calculated on the basis of market exchange 
rates and purchasing power parity. 
The revenue accruing from these variable rates shall 
be equal to the difference between the expenditure 
referred to above and 33 % of total expenditure in 
the budget. 
In the event of exceptional and unexpected 
developments in Community expenditure, this 
threshold may be varied by the procedure provided 
for in Article 3 (6). 
4. If at the beginning of the financial year the 
budget has not been adopted, any rate of value added 
tax previously fixed shall remain applicable until the 
entry into force of a new rate. 
5. For the purposes of paragraph 6, an overall rate 
of value added tax shall be calculated from the sum 
of the uniform rate referred to in paragraph 2 and the 
weighted average of the variable rates referred to in 
paragraph 3. 
6. A decision based on a proposal from the 
Commission shall be required before the overall rate 
of value added tax can exceed 1,4 %. This decision 
shall be taken by the budgetary authority, the Council 
acting unanimously and Parliament acting by a 
majority of its members and three-fifths of the votes 
cast. Further decisions shall be required for sub­
sequent increases, in fractions of 0,4 °/o, in the auth­
orized rate. Article 4 
1. The revenue referred to in Article 2 and 3 shall 
be used without distinction to finance all expenditure 
entered in the budget of the Communities. 
2. Financing expenditure connected with research 
programmes of the European Atomic Energy 
Community from the Communities' own resources 
shall not exclude entry in the budget of the 
Communities of expenditure relating to sup­
plementary programmes nor the financing of such 
expenditure by means of financial contributions from 
Member States determined according to a special 
scale fixed pursuant to a decision of the Council 
acting unanimously. 
Article 5 
In order to cover expense incurred in collection, each 
Member State may be refunded up to 10 % of the 
amounts of the own resources set out in Article 2. 
The rate applicable shall be fixed on a proposal from 
the Commission, by the budgetary authority, the 
Council acting unanimously and Parliament acting by 
a majority of its members and three-fifths of the votes 
cast. 
Article 6 
Any balance between the Communities' own 
resources and actual expenditure during a financial 
year shall be regulated in accordance with provisions 
to be adopted pursuant to Article 209 of the Treaty 
establishing the European Economic Community and 
Article 183 of the Treaty establishing the European 
Atomic Energy Community. 
Article 7 
1. The Community resources referred to in Articles 
2 and 3 shall be collected by the Member States in 
accordance with national provisions imposed by law, 
regulation or administrative action, which shall, 
where necessary, be amended for that purpose. 
Member States shall make these resources available to 
the Commission. 
2. Without prejudice to the auditing of accounts 
provided for in Article 206 (a) of the Treaty 
establishing the European Economic Community, or 
to the inspection arrangements made pursuant to 
Article 209 (c) of that Treaty, the Council shall, 
acting unanimously on a proposal from the 
Commission and after consulting the European Par­
liament, adopt provisions relating to the supervision 
of collection, the making available to the 
Commission, and the payment of the revenue referred 
to in Articles 2 and 3, and also the detailed rules for 
applying Article 3. 
3. 6. 83 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 145/7 
Article 8 
Member States shall be notified of this Decision by 
the Secretary-General of the Council of the European 
Communities; it shall be published in the Official 
Journal of the European Communities. 
Member States shall notify the Secretary-General of 
the Council of the European Communities without 
delay of the completion of the procedures for the adoption of this Decision in accordance with their 
respective constitutional requirements. 
This Decision shall enter into force on the first day of 
the month following receipt of. the last of the 
notifications referred to in the second paragraph. At 
the same time the Decision of 21 April 1970 shall be 
repealed. To the extent necessary, any reference to 
the Decision of 21 April 1970 shall be understood as 
referring to the present Decision.