18. 2. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41/5 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
COMMISSION 
Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) on the statistics relating to the trading of goods 
between Member States 
COM(88) 810 final — SYN 181 
(Submitted by the Commission on 19 January 1989) 
(89/C 41/05) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100A 
thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
In cooperation with the European Parliament, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Whereas abolishing physical barriers between Member 
States is necessary to complete the internal market; 
whereas a satisfactory level of information on the trading 
of goods between Member States should thus be ensured 
by means other than those involving checks, even 
indirect ones, at internal frontiers; 
"Whereas an analysis of the situation of the Community 
and the Member States after 1992 reveals that a number 
of specific requirements will persist as regards infor­
mation on trading of goods between Member States; 
Whereas these requirements are not of a macroeconomic 
nature, unlike those relating, for example, to national 
accounts or the balance of payments, and many of them 
can not be met by means of highly aggregated data 
alone, whereas matters such as trade policy, sectoral 
analyses, competition rules, the management and 
guidance of agriculture and fisheries, regional devel­
opment, energy projections and the organization of 
transport must on the other hand be based on statistical 
documentation providing the most up-to-date, accurate 
and detailed view of the internal market; 
Whereas it is precisely information on the trading of 
goods between Member States which will contribute to 
measuring the progress of the internal market, thereby 
speeding up its completion and consolidating it on a 
sound basis; Whereas until the end of 1992 statistics relating to the 
trading of goods between Member States will benefit 
from the formalities, documentation and controls which 
the customs authorities, for their own requirements or 
for those of other departments, prescribe for consignors 
and consignees of goods in circulation between Member 
States, but which will disappear through the elimination 
of physical frontiers and tax barriers; 
Whereas it will consequently be necessary to collect 
directly from the consignors and consignees the data 
necessary to compile statistics relating to the trading of 
goods between Member States, using methods and tech­
niques which will ensure that they are exhaustive, 
reliable and up-to-date, without giving rise for the 
parties concerned, in particular for small and 
medium-sized businesses, to a burden out of proportion 
to the results which users of the said statistics can 
reasonably expect; 
Whereas related legislation must henceforth apply to all 
statistics relating to the trading of goods between 
Member States, including those statistics which are not 
to be harmonized or made compulsory by the 
Community before 1993, in order to prevent Member 
States from replacing traditional procedures by new 
procedures which, while effective, would however run 
the risk of disparity; whereas, in order to meet all the 
information needs likely to arise through the implemen­
tation of the internal market, such legislation must be 
able to encompass all goods circulating within the 
Community, whatever their customs and tax status or the 
cause of their being moved; 
Whereas the statistics relating to the trading of goods 
between Member States are a function of the movements 
of goods involved; whereas they may include data on 
transport, which can be collected simultaneously with the 
data specific to each of these categories of statistics, thus 
lightening the overall statistical burden; 
No C 41/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 89 
Whereas private individuals will derive obvious 
advantages from the approximation of indirect tax rates; 
whereas it is necessary to ensure that these advantages 
are not diminished in their eyes by requirements to 
provide information on purchases made by such indi­
viduals in a Member State other than the Member State 
of residence; whereas the provision of such information 
would undoubtedly impose an obligation which private 
individuals would consider at the least inconvenient and 
which it would be impossible to enforce without 
employing excessive measures; whereas it is therefore 
reasonable not to regard private individuals as 
responsible for providing such information, apart from 
suitable periodic surveys; 
Whereas the new collection system to be introduced is to 
apply to all statistics relating to the trading of goods 
between Member States; whereas it must therefore be 
defined first in a general context involving new concepts, 
particularly as regards the scope, the party responsible 
for providing the information and the transmission of 
data; 
Whereas the real economy of the system resides in the 
use of related administrative networks, and in particular 
that of the VAT authorities, to provide the statistical 
services with a minimum degree of indirect checks 
without thereby increasing the burden on taxpayers; 
whereas nonetheless it is necessary to avoid confusion 
arising in the minds of the parties responsible for 
providing information between their statistical and their 
tax obligations; 
Whereas it is vital to use existing sources to compile 
basic documentation in each Member State regarding 
consignors and consignees of goods which are covered 
by statistics of trade between Member States, so as to 
identify, in preparation for 1992, the main parties 
concerned and to develop modern data transmission 
techniques with their assistance; 
Whereas implementation alone will reveal the loopholes 
or weaknesses in the new collection system; whereas 
improvements and simplifications should be introduced 
within a reasonable period of time in order to prevent its 
defects from having negative repercussions on the 
trading of goods between Member States; 
Whereas, among the statistics relating to the trading of 
goods between Member States, statistics of trade 
between Member States must receive priority, for 
obvious reasons of importance and continuity; whereas, 
however, substantial adjustments must be made to these 
statistics in order to take account of the new conditions 
on the internal market after 1992; whereas it will be 
necessary to review inter alia the definition of their 
content, the goods classification applicable to them and 
the list of data to be collected to compile them; Whereas the Commission should be assisted by a 
committee to ensure the regular cooperation of the 
Member States, in particular to resolve the problems 
which are bound to arise in connection with information 
on the trading of goods between Member States 
following the numerous innovations introduced by the 
new collection system; 
Whereas the relevant Community legislation should be 
implemented systematically by provisions adopted either 
by the Commission or by the Council; 
Whereas some of the provisions of this Regulation must 
enter into force without delay so that the Community 
and its Member States can prepare for the practical 
consequences which it will bring as from 1 January 1993; 
Whereas one of these consequences is firstly that Council 
Regulation (EEC) No 2954/85 of 22 October 1985 
laying down certain measures for the standardization 
and simplification of the statistics of trade between 
Member States (') must be repealed, and secondly that 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 1736/75 of 24 June 1975 
on the external trade statistics of the Community and 
statistics of trade between Member States (2), as last 
amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1629/88 (5), will no 
longer be applicable to statistics relating to the trading of 
goods between Member States; 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
TITLE I 
General provisions 
Article 1 
The Community and its Member States shall draw up 
statistics relating to the trading of goods between 
Member States in accordance with the rules laid down 
by this Regulation. 
Article 2 
For the purposes of this Regulation and without 
prejudice to any individual provisions: 
(a) 'trading of goods between Member States' means 
any movement of goods from one Member State to 
another; 
(b) 'goods' means all movable property; 
(c) 'Community goods' means goods: 
(') OJ No L 285, 25. 10. 1985, p. 1. 
O OJ No L 183, 14. 7. 1975, p. 3. 
(') OJ No L 147, 14. 6. 1988, p. 1. 
18. 2. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41/7 
— entirely obtained in the customs territory of the 
Community, without the addition of goods from 
non-member countries or territories which are 
not part of the customs territory of the 
Community, 
— from countries or territories not forming part of 
the customs territory of the Community which 
have been released for free circulation in a 
Member State, 
— obtained in the customs territory of the 
Community either from the goods referred to 
exclusively in the second indent or from the 
goods referred to in the first and second indents; 
(d) 'non-Community goods' means goods other than 
those referred to in (c). Without prejudice to the 
agreements concluded with non-member countries 
for the implementation of the Community transit 
arrangements, goods which, while fulfilling the 
conditions laid down in (c), are reintroduced into the 
customs territory of the Community after export 
therefrom are also considered as non-Community 
goods; 
(e) 'Member State', when the term is used in the 
geographical sense, means its statistical territory; 
(f) 'statistical territory of a Member State' means the 
territory occupied by this Member State within the 
statistical territory of the Community, as this latter is 
defined in Article 3 of Regulation (EEC) No 
1736/75; 
(g) 'goods in free movement on the internal market of 
the Community' means goods complying with the 
conditions or the market of any Member State; 
(h) 'goods produced in a specific Member State' means, 
in addition to goods produced there, compensating 
Community goods which have undergone processing 
there; 
(i) 'intermediary' means any natural or legal person 
situated in the chain of trade in goods upstream or 
downstream, as the case may be, of the party 
responsible for providing statistical information; 
(j) 'private individual' means any natural person not 
liable to account for VAT in connection with a given 
movement of goods. 
Article 3 
1. All goods which move from one Member State to 
another shall be the subject of statistics relating to the 
trading of goods between Member States. 
In addition to the goods which move within the stat­
istical territory of the Community, goods shall be 
considered as moving from one Member State to another 
if, in so doing, they cross the external frontier of the Community, whether or not they subsequently enter the 
territory of a non-member State. 
2. Paragraph 1 shall apply both to non-Community 
and Community goods whether or not they are the 
subject of a commercial transaction. 
Article 4 
1. Of the goods referred to in Article 3: 
(a) shall be the subject of transit statistics: those which 
are transported, with or without transhipment, across 
a Member State without being stored there for 
reasons not inherent in their transport; 
(b) shall be the subject of storage statistics: those 
referred to in Article 2, second paragraph, of Regu­
lation (EEC) No 1736/75 (EEC), as well as those 
which enter or leave storage facilities determined by 
the Commission in accordance with Article 29; 
(c) shall be the subject of statistics of trade between 
Member States: those which do not meet the 
conditions of (a) and (b) or which, while meeting 
either of those conditions, are expressly singled out 
by this Regulation or by the Commission pursuant to 
Article 29; 
(d) the Council, on a proposal from the Commission, 
shall determine the goods that are to be the subject 
of other statistics relating to the trading of goods 
between Member States. 
2. Without prejudice to Community provisions on 
statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods, the 
data on the movement of goods subject to the statistics 
referred to in paragraph 1 shall be included, as required, 
in the list of data relating to each of these categories of 
statistics on the conditions and terms laid down by this 
Regulation or by the Commission pursuant to Article 29. 
Article 5 
Without prejudice to Article 15, private individuals shall 
be exempt from the obligations implied by the prepa­
ration of the statistics referred to in Article 4. 
TITLE II 
Statistical collection system 
(INTRASTAT) 
Article 6 
With a view to compiling the statistics relating to the 
trading of goods between Member States, a statistical 
collection system shall be set up, hereinafter referred to 
as the INTRASTAT system. 
No C 41/8 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 89 
Article 7 
1. The INTRASTAT system shall be applied in the 
Member States whenever they are deemed to be partner 
countries in the trading of goods between Member States 
by virtue of the provisions of paragraph 4. 
2. The INTRASTAT system shall be applied to the 
goods referred to in Article 3: 
(a) which are in free movement on the internal market 
of the Community; 
(b) which, since they may move on the internal market 
of the Community only after completion of the 
formalities prescribed by Community legislation on 
the circulation of goods, are expressly designated 
either by this Regulation or by the Commission 
pursuant to Article 29. 
3. The collection of data on the goods referred to in 
Article 3 to which the INTRASTAT system does not apply 
shall be regulated by the Commission pursuant to Article 
29 within the framework of the formalities referred to in 
paragraph 2 (b). 
4. The INTRASTAT system shall apply: 
(a) to the statistics of trade between Member States, 
pursuant to Articles 17 to 27; 
(b) to transit and storage statistics, in accordance with 
the provisions laid down by the Council on a 
proposal from the Commission pursuant to Article 
30. 
5. Barring a decision to the contrary by the Council 
on a proposal from the Commission taken no later than 
31 December 1991, in particular pursuant to Article 30, 
the national provisions on the statistics referred to in 
paragraph 4, in so far as they relate to data collection, 
shall cease to apply after 31 December 1992. 
Article 8 
"Without prejudice to Article 5, the obligation to supply 
the information required by the INTRASTAT system shall 
be incumbent on any natural or legal person who is 
involved in the trading of goods between Member States. 
Among those incurring this obligation, the party 
responsible for providing information for each form of 
statistics covered by the INTRASTAT system shall be 
designated by the relevant specific provisions. 
Article 9 
1. The party responsible for providing the information 
required by the INTRASTAT system may transfer the task 
of providing the information to a third party residing in 
a Member State, but such transfer will in no way reduce 
the responsibility of the said party. The party responsible for providing information shall 
provide this third party with all the information 
necessary to fulfil his obligations as party responsible. 
2. On the first occasion that a party responsible for 
providing information who is not liable to account for 
VAT transfers this task of providing information to a 
third party, he shall make this fact known without delay 
to the competent national departments, unless these 
departments have previously specifically exempted him 
from the obligation to make the fact known. 
3. If an intermediary is immediately downstream or 
upstream of a party responsible for providing infor­
mation who is not liable to account for VAT, then the 
intermediary shall pass to him a copy of the instructions 
to parties responsible for providing information which 
are supplied to intermediaries for this purpose by the 
competent national departments. 
4. The implementing rules for paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 
shall be laid down by the Commission pursuant to 
Article 29. 
Article 10 
1. Member States shall take the measures necessary to 
compile a register in which they shall list up to 31 
December 1992 upon dispatch the consignors, upon 
arrival the consignees and where necessary the 
declarants, within the meaning of Commission Regu­
lation (EEC) No 2792/86 ('), who are involved from 
1 January 1991 to 31 December 1992 in trade between 
Member States, referred to hereinafter as intra-
Community operators. 
2. The list of minimum data to be recorded in the 
register of intra-Community operators in addition to the 
identification number referred to in paragraph 3 shall be 
laid down by the Commission pursuant to Article 29 by 
30 June 1990. 
3. The departments in the Member States responsible 
for compiling statistics relating to the trading of goods 
between Member States shall allocate to intra-
Community operators an identifying code number and 
shall inform the operators of their code number in time 
for them to comply with the provisions of Article 13(1) 
using this number. 
However, where intra-Community operators are liable to 
account for VAT, the said departments shall use for the 
purposes specified above, apart from exceptional cases 
which they shall justify to the operators concerned, the 
identification numbers allocated to these operators by the 
national VAT authorities. The latter shall also furnish to 
the abovementioned departments, on the basis of this 
number, any information relating to the identification of 
the said operators which may be necessary for the 
compilation of the register of intra-Community 
operators. 
(') OJ No L 263, 15. 9. 1986, p. 59. 
18. 2. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41/9 
4. Where required, the Commission shall draw up, in 
accordance with Article 29, the rules relating to the 
management and updating of the register of intra-
Communky operators to be applied by the Member 
States. 
Article 11 
1. The Member State's departments responsible for 
VAT collection shall, at least once every three months, 
furnish the departments in that Member State responsible 
for compiling statistics relating to the trading of goods 
between Member States with: 
(a) the list of those liable to account for VAT who, in 
the period under review, have declared that they 
have been charged VAT arising out of purchases in 
other Member States; 
(b) the list of those liable to account for VAT who, in 
the period under review, have declared that they 
have charged VAT following sales in other Member 
States. 
2. - Under restricted conditions, which the Commission 
shall determine pursuant to Article 29, the Member 
States' departments responsible for VAT collection shall 
in addition furnish the departments in their own Member 
State responsible for compiling statistics relating to the 
trading of goods between Member States, on their own 
initiative or at the request of the latter, with any infor­
mation capable of improving the quality of statistics 
which those liable to account for VAT normally submit 
to the first-mentioned departments to comply with tax 
requirements. 
3. "Whatever the administrative organization of the 
Member State, the party responsible for providing stat­
istical information can be compelled to justify the infor­
mation he supplies in comparison with the data he 
communicates to the departments responsible for VAT 
collection only within the limits laid down pursuant to 
paragraph 2. 
4. In the instructions to persons liable to account for 
VAT regarding the periodic declaration which such 
persons must address to them, the departments in a 
Member State responsible for VAT collection shall draw 
attention, according to the rules adopted by the 
Commission pursuant to Article 29, to the obligations 
they may incur as parties responsible for providing the 
information required by the INTRASTAT system. 
5. Administrative assistance between national 
departments of different Member States responsible for 
compiling statistics relating to the trading of goods 
between Member States shall, as necessary, be regulated 
by the Commission pursuant to Article 29. Article 12 
The statistical information media required by the 
INTRASTAT system shall be set up by the Commission 
pursuant to Article 29, in respect of each category of 
statistics relating to the trading of goods between 
Member States. 
Article 13 
1. Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 2 
the statistical information required by the INTRASTAT 
system shall be supplied by the party responsible to the 
competent national departments, within the time limits 
set up by the Commission pursuant to Article 29. 
2. The party responsible is, on his request, authorized 
by these departments to transmit this information by 
means of 'global' declarations which combine the 
movements of goods incurring obligations on his part 
under the INTRASTAT system during a specific period. 
3. The Member States shall inform the Commission of 
the conditions laid down by them under which the auth­
orization requested in paragraph 2 will be granted. 
Pursuant to Article 29 the Commission shall adopt such 
provisions as it deems necessary in this connection. 
4. The Commission shall determine, pursuant to 
Article 29: 
— where not laid down by this Regulation, the 
reference period applicable to each category of stat­
istics relating to the trading of goods between 
Member States, 
— the procedures for the transmission of the infor­
mation, especially with a view to making available to 
the parties responsible for providing information 
networks of regional data collection offices. 
Article 14 
Any party responsible for providing statistical infor­
mation who does not fulfil his obligations under this 
Regulation shall be liable to the penalties which the 
Member States shall lay down in accordance with their 
relevant national provisions. 
Article 15 
The Commission may organize, under conditions which 
it shall determine pursuant to Article 29, periodic surveys 
on the trading of goods between Member States by 
private individuals and on movements of goods or on 
intra-Community operators excluded from the returns 
under specific provisions relating to the various statistics 
on the trading of goods. 
No C 41/10 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 89 
Article 16 
The Commission shall report to the Council on the func­
tioning of the INTRASTAT system for each category of 
statistics relating to the trading of goods between 
Member States covered by the INTRASTAT system 
within six months of the annual results for the second 
year of operation of the said system being made available 
to the Commission by the Member States. (a) as Community goods: 
(1) introduced without formalities onto its market; 
(2) released for consumption; 
(3) placed under inward processing arrangements of 
a tax nature with a view to subsequent export; 
(4) placed in premises under the control of the tax 
authorities, under the conditions laid down in 
the second indent of Article 18 (2) (a) (2); 
TITLE III 
Statistics on trade between Member States 
Article 17 
1. Statistics on trade between Member States shall 
cover, on the one hand, movements of goods leaving the 
Member State of dispatch and, on the other, movements 
of goods entering the Member State of arrival. 
2. For the purposes of statistics on trade between 
Member States, electric current shall be considered as 
goods. (b) as non-Community goods, referred to in Article 18 
(2)(b): 
(1) placed in free circulation there; 
(2) maintained under inward processing customs 
arrangements or under arrangements for 
processing under customs control or again made 
subject to such arrangements. 
Article 20 
With a view to collecting the data required for the stat­
istics of trade between Member States, the provisions of 
Title II (INTRASTAT) shall be supplemented as follows: 
Article 18 
1. The Member State of dispatch shall be the Member 
State in which the goods leaving it are the subject of a 
dispatch. Dispatch for the purposes of this Title shall be 
taken to mean the shipment of goods referred to in 
paragraph 2 to a destination in another Member State. 
2. In a given Member State the following may be the 
subject of a dispatch: 
(a) Community goods: 
(1) which comply with the conditions of the market 
of that Member State; 
(2) which do not comply with the conditions of the 
market of that Member State but: 
— have been produced there, 
— have been placed in premises under the 
control of the tax authorities, insofar as their 
case is provided for in the specific provisions 
adopted by the Commission pursuant to 
Article 29; (1) without prejudice to Article 33, the INTRASTAT 
system shall apply to the goods referred to in Article 
18 (2) (a) (1) and Article 19 (a) (1); 
(2) the partner countries in trading of goods between 
Member States within the meaning of Article 7 (1) 
shall be the Member State of dispatch and the 
Member State of arrival; 
(3) within the INTRASTAT system Member State of 
dispatch shall be defined as that in which the goods 
which are dispatched from there to another Member 
State come under the terms of Article 18 (2) (a) (1), 
in so far as they have been produced there, 
introduced without formalities onto its market or 
released for consumption; 
(4) within the INTRASTAT system Member State of 
arrival shall be defined as that in which Community 
goods from another Member State are introduced 
without formalities onto its market; 
(b) non-Community goods placed, maintained or 
obtained in that Member State under inward 
processing customs arrangements or under 
arrangements for processing under customs control. 
Article 19 
The Member State of arrival shall be the Member State 
in which the goods which enter it are: (5) the party responsible for providing the information 
referred to in Article 8 shall be the natural or legal 
person who 
(a) residing in the Member State of dispatch: 
— has concluded the contract, with the 
exception of transport contracts, giving rise 
to the dispatch of goods or, failing this, 
18 2 89 Cofficial]ournalof theLuropean Communities ^oC^lBll 
— dispatches or provides for the dispatch of the 
goods or, failing this, 
— is in possession of the goods which are the 
subject of the dispatch, 
d^ residing in the member ^tate of arrival 
— has concluded the contract, with the 
exception of transport contracts, giving rise 
to the delivery of goods or,faihng this, 
— tal^espossessionor provides for possessions 
betaken of the goods or,faihng this 
— is in possession of the goods which are the 
subject of the delivery, 
^ the Commission shall adopt the provisions provided 
formArticleB^byl]anuaryl991, 
CO the reference period referred to inthe first indent of 
Article 13 C^ shall be the calendar month during 
which the movements of goods to be recorded 
pursuant to this Article, as appropriate, commence or 
are completed 
^tr^c^2^ 
1 COnthestatisticaldata medium 
— goodsshallbedesignatedmsuchawayastopermit 
easy and precise classification in the finest relevant 
subdivision of the classification of goods applicable to 
the statistics of trade between member states, 
— the code of the corresponding subdivision in the 
classification shall also be given for each type of 
goods 
2 ^PheCommissionshall, nolaterthan 31 December 
1990, adopt a Regulation pursuant to Article 29 estab 
hshmg the classification referred to in paragraph 1 and 
laying down the rules under whichthe classification shall 
bemanagedby theCommission and published annually 
Hie Commission shall anne^ to this Regulation the 
versionof thesaidclassificationapphcableon 1 January 
1993, subject however to any amendments resulting from 
the management of goods nomenclatures which are 
adoptednot later than 31 Coctober 1992 
3 ^Phe classification referred to in paragraphs 1 and2 
shall be compatible with the nomenclature of the 
Plarmom^ed Commodity Description and Coding 
system 
^ notwithstanding paragraph 1, the party responsible 
for providing information may use, for the purpose of 
describing and coding goods, the goods classification 
applicable toCommumtye^ternaltradestatistics Blr^22 
1 COnthestatisticaldata medium, the^iember^tates 
shall be described by the alphabetical or numerical codes 
which the Commission shall determine pursuant to 
Article 29 
2 without prejudice totheprovisionsadoptedbv the 
Commission pursuant to Article 29, the parties 
responsible for providing information shall comply, for 
thepurposes of paragraph 1, withthemstructionsissued 
by the competent national departments regarding the 
compilmgof statistics on tradebetween member states 
^r^2^ 
1 fhefollowingdatamustbegivenon thestatistical 
datamedium for each type of goods 
er^ mthe^iember^tate of arrival the^dember^tateof 
consignment of the goods, within the meaning of 
Article2^CP4 
d^d in the member ^tateof dispatch thelvlember ^tate 
of destination within the meaning of Article2^2^, 
^ the quantity of the goods, in net mass and 
supplementary units, 
^ the value of the goods, 
^ where appropriate, the statistical system 
fhe list of these data shall be amended by the 
Commission pursuant to Article 29, and this by 1 
January 1991if it needs to be supplemented, especially in 
accordance with Article ^ C^, ^ diat it can become 
apphcablefrom 1 January 1993 
2 ^Phe member states may not prescribe that data 
other than those referred to in paragraph 1 must be 
given on the statistical data medium Plowever, without 
prejudice to Article 25 ^, until 31 December 1998 at 
thelatest,this measure will not apply to suchdata as the 
Commission shall list in accordance with Article 29 
Con a proposal from the Commission, the Council shall 
gradually reduce the number of these items of data 
3 In so far as not laid down in this Regulation, the 
data referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 and the rules 
governing their mclusiononthestatisticaldata medium, 
shall be defined by the Commission pursuant to Article 
29 
^r^c2^ 
1 ^hen, before reaching the member ^tate of arrival, 
goodshaveenteredoneor morecountnes intransitand 
have been subject in those countries to halts or legal 
operations not inherent in their transport, the member 
^tate of consignment shall be tal^en to be the last 
Alember ^tate where such halts or legal operations 
No C 41/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 89 
occurred. In other cases, the Member State of 
consignment shall be the same as the Member State of 
dispatch. 
2. Member State of destination shall be taken to mean 
the last country to which it is known, at the time of 
dispatch, that the goods are to be dispatched. 
3. Notwithstanding Article 23 (1) (a), the party 
responsible for providing information in the Member 
State of arrival may, in the following order: 
— if he does not know the Member State of 
consignment, state the Member State of dispatch; 
— if he does not know the Member State of dispatch, 
state the Member State of purchase, within the 
meaning of paragraph 4; 
— if there is no country of purchase, state 'Member 
State unknown'. 
4. The Member State of purchase shall be taken to 
mean the Member State of residence of the contracting 
partner of the natural or legal person who has concluded 
the contract, with the exception of transport contracts, 
giving rise to the delivery of goods in the Member State 
of arrival. 
Article 25 
1. The Community and the Member States shall 
compile statistics on trade between Member States from 
the data referred to in Article 23 (1). 
2. Member States which do not compile statistics on 
trade between Member States from the data referred to 
in Article 23 (2) shall refrain from ordering the 
collection of such data. 
3. The Community and the Member States shall 
compile the statistics on trade between Member States, 
having regard to such provisions as the Commission may 
adopt pursuant to Article 29 on general and specific 
exemptions and the statistical threshold. 
4. Any provision which has the effect of excluding 
goods referred to in Articles 18 and 19 from the compi­
lation of the statistics of trade between Member States 
shall suspend the obligation to supply statistical infor­
mation on the goods thus excluded. 
Article 26 
1. Member States shall transmit to the Commission 
without delay, and at the latest six weeks after the end of 
the reference month, the monthly statisics on trade 
between Member States. These statistics shall cover the 
data referred to in Article 23 (1). 2. Where necessary the procedure for such trans­
mission shall be laid down by the Commission pursuant 
to Article 29. 
3. Data declared confidential by the Member States 
under the conditions referred to in Article 31 shall be 
transmitted by them in accordance with Council Regu­
lation (EEC) No ... of ... on the transmission to the 
Statistical Office of the European Communities of infor­
mation covered by statistical confidentiality. 
Article 27 
Provisions regard the simplification of statistical infor­
mation shall be adopted: 
(a) by the Council on a proposal from the Commission; 
(b) by the Commission pursuant to Article 29; in this 
case, they cannot apply before 1 January 1999. 
TITLE IV 
Committee on statistics relating to the trading of goods 
between Member States 
Article 28 
1. A Committee on the Statistics relating to the 
trading of goods between Member States, hereinafter 
called the Committee, is hereby established. It shall be 
composed of representatives of the Member States and 
chaired by a Commission representative. 
2. The Committee shall draw up its rules of 
procedure. 
3. The Committee may examine any question relating 
to the implementation of this Regulation raised by its 
Chairman, either on his own initiative or at the request 
of the representative of a Member State. 
Article 29 
1. The provisions required for the implementation of 
this Regulation shall be adopted according to the 
procedure laid down in paragraph 2. 
2. The Commission representative shall submit to the 
Committee a proposal on the measures to be taken. The 
Committee shall deliver an opinion on the proposal 
within a period set by the Chairman in accordance with 
the urgency of the matter in question, if necessary by 
means of a vote. 
The opinion shall be entered in the minutes; in addition, 
each Member State shall have the right to request that its 
position appear in the minutes. 
The Commission shall take the fullest account of the 
opinion delivered by the Committee. It shall inform the 
Committee of the way in which it has taken the opinion 
into account. 
18. 2. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41/13 
TITLE V Article 33 
Final provisions 
Article 30 
On a proposal from the Commission, the Council shall 
adopt the provisions necessary to enable the Community 
or its Member States to compile the statistics other than 
statistics of trade between Member States referred to in 
Article 4. 
Article 31 
1. On a proposal from the Commission, the Council 
shall decide on the conditions under which the Member 
States may declare data compiled in accordance with this 
Regulation, or the Regulations provided for herein, to be 
confidential. 
2. Until these conditions have been laid down, 
Member States' provisions on this matter shall apply. 
Article 32 
The Commission may, pursuant to Article 29, adopt 
measures which adapt those provided for in this Regu­
lation to specific movements of goods within the 
meaning of the statistical regulations of the Community. In respect both of goods subject to the INTRASTAT 
system and of others goods, the Commission may, for 
the purpose of facilitating the task of the parties 
responsible for providing information, establish in 
accordance with Article 29 simplified data collection 
procedures and in particular create the conditions for 
increased use of automatic data processing and electronic 
data transmission. 
Article 34 
1. Regulation (EEC) No 2954/85 is hereby repealed 
with effect from 1 January 1993 and Regulation (EEC) 
No 1736/75 shall cease to apply to the statistics of trade 
in goods between Member States to which it was 
applicable, with effect from the same date. 
2. This Regulation shall enter into force on the third 
day following that of its publication in the Official 
Journal of the European Communities. 
Except in so far as they imply that the Council or the 
Commission shall adopt provisions implementing this 
Regulation before that date, Articles 1 to 9, 11, 13 (1), 
14 to 20, 21 (1) and (4) and 22 to 27 shall not be 
applicable until 1 January 1993. 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and 
directly applicable in all Member States.