17. 6. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 159/3 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Directive determining the scope of Article 14(l)(d) of 
Directive 77/388/EEC as regards exemption from value added tax on the final importation 
of certain goods (*) 
(91/C 159/02) 
On 15 January 1991 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the 
abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Economic, Financial and Monetary Questions, which was responsible for 
preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 12 April 1991. The 
Rapporteur was Mr Giacomelli. 
At its 286th plenary session (meeting of 24 April 1991), the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted the following Opinion unanimously. 
1. Explanation of the background to the new proposal 
1.1. The new proposal for a Directive aims to con­
solidate, i.e. present a coordinated version of, Council 
Directive 83/181/EEC 'determining the scope of 
Article 14(1) (d) of Directive 77/388/EEC as regards 
exemption from value added tax on the final import­
ation of certain goods'. Since its entry into force on 
28 March 1983, the parent Council Directive (83/181/ 
EEC) has been substantially amended, the last occasion 
being by Directive 89/219/EEC. Consolidation has now 
been deemed advisable to make the text clearer and 
more accessible to interested parties. 
Given the lapse of time, it will no doubt help to recall 
Article 14(1) (d) of Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 
1977 (termed Sixth VAT Directive) which states: 
Article 14 — Exemption on importation 
'1. Without prejudice to other Community provisions, 
Member States shall exempt the following under 
conditions which they shall lay down for the pur­
pose of ensuring the correct and straightforward 
application of such exemption and of preventing 
any possible evasion, avoidance or abuse: 
d) Final importation of goods qualifying for exemp­
tion from customs duties other than as provided 
for in the Common Customs Tariff or which would 
qualify therefor if they were imported from a third 
country. However, Member States shall have the 
option of not granting exemption where this would 
be liable to have a serious effect on conditions of 
competition on the home market;' 
(M OJNoC23, 31. 1. 1991, p. 48. 1.2. Directive 83/181/EEC of 28 March 1983, which 
takes up no less than 18 pages in the OJ of 23 April 
1983, sought to determine the scope of the provision 
quoted under paragraph 1.1 above. It covers the 
importation of personal property belonging to individ­
uals coming from countries situated outside the 
Community (goods imported on the occasion of a 
marriage, personal property acquired by inheritance, 
imports of negligible value, school outfits, scholastic 
materials and other household effects belonging to 
pupils or students); capital goods and other equipment 
imported on the transfer of activities; the importation 
of certain agricultural products and products intended 
for agricultural use; the importation of therapeutic 
substances, medicines, laboratory animals and biologi­
cal or chemical substances (laboratory animals and 
biological or chemical substances intended for 
research, therapeutic substances of human origin and 
blood-grouping and tissue-typing reagents, pharma­
ceutical products used at international sports events); 
goods for charitable or philanthropic organizations 
(goods imported for general purposes, articles import­
ed for the benefit of handicapped persons, goods 
imported for the benefit of disaster victims); import­
ation in the context of certain aspects of international 
relations (honorary decorations or awards, presents 
received in the context of international relations, 
goods to be used by monarchs or heads of State); 
the importation of goods for the promotion of trade 
(samples of negligible value, printed matter and 
advertising material, goods used or consumed at a 
trade fair or similar event); goods imported for 
examination, analysis or test purposes; miscellaneous 
exemptions (consignments sent to organizations pro­
tecting copyrights or industrial and commercial patent 
rights); miscellaneous documents and articles; ancillary 
materials for the storage and protection of goods 
during their transport; litter, fodder and feedingstuffs 
for animals during their transport; fuels and lubricants 
present in land motor vehicles; goods for the construc­
tion, upkeep or ornamentation of memorials to, or 
cemeteries for, war victims; coffins, funerary urns 
and ornamental funerary articles). 
No C 159/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 17. 6. 91 
1.3. Council Directive 85/346/EEC of 8 July 1985 
amended Directive 83/181/EEC (summarized in para­
graph 1.1 above) by replacing the text of Article 83 
with a more wideranging provision regarding the fuel 
contained in the standard fuel tanks of commercial 
motor vehicles, and notably a higher minimum fuel 
level for coaches. It also amended Directive 83/181/ 
EEC by rewording Article 84(a) which gives Member 
States the right to limit the amount of fuel exempt from 
VAT on admission in the case of commercial motor 
vehicles engaged in international transport from third 
countries to their frontier zone (first indent) and from 
another Member State to their frontier zone (second 
indent). By removing the second indent, the limitation 
no longer applied to transport from another Member 
State. 
1.4. Council Directive 88/331/EEC of 13 June 1988 
further amended Directive 83/181/EEC, notably by 
replacing, amending or expanding Article 11(2); 
Article 22; Article 35(l)(b) second indent; Chapter II 
and Article 38 to which was added a Chapter 11(a) 
(reference substances for the quality control of medical 
products) and an Article 38(a) defining the consign­
ments in question; Article 56 to which was added a 
point (d) (concerning the awards, trophies and sou­
venirs of a symbolic nature and of limited value); 
Articles 62 and 63 (printed matter and advertising 
material) which were replaced by other texts; Article 
79 to which was added a point (s) on the importation 
of official publications; Chapter VI whose title was 
amended to include fuels and lubricants not only 
present in land motor vehicles but also found in 
special containers, Articles 82 and 83 of Chapter VI 
being replaced and amended accordingly. Finally, 
Articles 90(3) and 91 were expanded, with a new 
point 91(c) referring to exemptions in the context of 
agreements entered into on the basis of reciprocity 
with third countries that are Contracting Parties 
to the Convention on International Civil Aviation 
(Chicago 1944). 
1.5. Commission Directive 89/219/EEC of 7 March 
1989 sought to amend Article 1 of Directive 83/181/ 
EEC (referred to under paragraph 1.1 above) by 
replacing the reference to the Common Customs 
Tariff by a reference to CN codes (combined 
nomenclature) in the new Article l(2)(d). The same 
Directive introduced a new text of the Annex to 
Directive 83/181/EEC on visual and auditory materials 
of an educational, scientific or cultural character. 2. General Comments 
2.1. The Economic and Social Committee welcomes 
the Commission's proposal for a Directive even though 
it should be made clear, en passant, that it makes no 
substantive changes to the provisions of the Directives 
referred to in Section 1 of this Opinion. All the new 
proposal does in fact is consolidate a number of legis­
lative instruments which cover the same field and suc­
cessively amend Directive 83/181/EEC, the latter having 
been drawn up in pursuance of Article 14(1) (d) of the 
Sixth VAT Directive. 
2.2. Although the Commission has only committed 
itself to producing consolidated, i.e. coordinated, ver­
sions of legal texts no later than after their tenth amend­
ment (see decision of 1 April 1987—COM(87) MIN 
868), it has been motivated, especially in the case of 
Directive 83/181/EEC which is of particular interest to 
ordinary European citizens directly concerned by VAT 
exemptions, by a desire, shared by the European Parlia­
ment and also expressed on many occasions by the 
Economic and Social Committee, to make Community 
law clearer and more accessible to readers and users. 
The Economic and Social Committee is thus grateful 
to the Commission for having agreed to bring consoli­
dation forward in this particular instance. 
2.3. Through the instrument of legislative consoli­
dation, the new directive encompasses and replaces all 
existing Directives relating to the determination of the 
scope of Article 14(l)(d) of the Sixth VAT Directive on 
exemptions from value added tax on the final import­
ation of certain goods. 
2.4. As the present system of taxation in the country 
of destination will be maintained for a transitional 
period after 1 January 1993 (the date of entry into 
force of the Single Market), the proposal to consolidate 
legislation at an earlier stage, i.e. after only the third 
amendment to the parent Directive, is especially justi­
fied, even though the proximity of the 1 January 1993 
deadline, not to mention a system of taxation in the 
country of origin originally to be introduced on the 
same date, might have rendered the whole Directive 
null and void. However, even in the event of the intro­
duction of a Community system of taxation in the 
country of origin, the text remains fully applicable with 
regard to third country imports. 
3. Specific Comments 
Since legislative consolidation in this case merely results 
in existing Directives being replaced by a new Directive 
without any changes at all to the substance of the 
consolidated provisions, except for the formal amend-
1BD.91 Official]ournal of the European Communities ^oCPo9^ 
ments required hy the operation of consolidation itself, 
the proposal gi^esnse^ to no particular comment. 
4. Conclusion 
The desire torenderCommunitylegislation clear and 
accessible to the ordinary European citizen should 
encourage the Commissiontoaim at greater simphfi 
cationbymeansof legislative consolidation—atleast 
whenever appropriate and whenever te^ts ha^e been 
amended, expanded and replaced so many times that it 
is virtually impossible for the layman and the unm 
mated tofindthethreadwhichwill lead them out of 
the labyrinth, r^y so doing, the Commission will provide 
interested parties with more comprehensible te^ts and 
sa^e them time and money lost through having to 
Poone at Brussels, 24 April 1991. 
1. Introduction 
.Phe proposal for a second phase of the r^outh for 
Europe programme ^CO^i(90) 4^ finals isbasedon 
the^outh for EuropePOecision of 16]une 1988 (see 
^eue^e^,^ M^^o,D^ consult Official ]ournals and worl^ bacl^ through a 
multitude of amendmentstothis or that Community 
directive, regulation or decision. 
In supportof this we would mention themeetingof 
themformal Councilon theSmgle^iarl^etof 8 and 
9Aiarch this year when the Luxembourg presidency 
raised the question of the ^post 1992 legislative period, 
pointingoutthat^when all POirecti^esha^ebeen adapted 
and brought into force, they should be consolidated to 
mal^e it easier for all citizens to read and become 
acquainted with them5 The Luxembourg presidency 
considered in particular thatdegislationonthe Single 
Aiarl^et is not at the present time accessible and trans 
parent, but tends to be opaques 
^ith the deadline ofl]anuaryl99^ approaching fast, 
the Commission should buclde down to this tasl^ 
immediately. 
CommitteeOpinionSEC^69B86ofl^Septemberl986P 
The proposal is broadly endorsed by the Committee. 
The second phase of the programme is to run for three 
years, froml]anuary 1992 tol]anuary 199^. 
The immediatepurpose is to promote informal edu 
cation and training outside the official system by pro Opinion on the proposal foraCouncil Decision adopting an action programme to promote 
youth exchanges and mobilityinthe Community^ the^outh for Europe programme(^) 
(91^C1^9^^ 
On l^POecember!990 the Council decided to consult the Economic and SocialCommittee 
under Article 198 of theTreaty establishmgtheEuropean EconomicCommumty,on the 
abo^ementioned proposal. 
The Section for Social, family,Educational and Cultural Affairs,which was responsible for 
preparing the Committee^sworle on the subject,adopted its Opinion on llApnl 1991.Lhe 
^apporteurwasAlrB.^.l^ompen. 
At its 286th plenary session (meeting of 24 April 1991) the Economic and Social Committee 
unanimously adopted the following Opinion.