Common position (EC) No 19/2000

adopted by the Council on 28 February 2000

with a view to adopting Regulation (EC) No .../2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of ... amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States, with specific reference to a simplified application of the nomenclature of products

(2000/C 87/02)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 95 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(3),

Whereas:

(1) Under Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91(4), the Community and its Member States compile statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States (Intrastat) during the transitional period which began on 1 January 1993 and will end on the date of changeover to a unified system of taxation in the Member State of origin.

(2) The simplification of legislation for the internal market, as formulated in the SLIM (Simpler Legislation for the Internal Market) initiative, is intended to improve enterprises' competitiveness and job creation potential.

(3) The simplification of the Intrastat system has been chosen as a SLIM pilot project, and specific proposals drawn up by the SLIM-Intrastat Working Party for reducing the burden on providers of statistical information have been the subject of a communication to the European Parliament and the Council and have been welcomed by them.

(4) The simplified application of the product nomenclature is one such proposal, since information providers generally regard the classification of products as difficult.

(5) It is important to simplify the Combined Nomenclature to be used on a uniform basis in both intra-Community and external trade, so as to make it easier to apply the system - in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); in this context the results of the ongoing discussions conducted by the Commission with Member States and the European trade and industry organisations in the SLIM framework should be taken into account, preserving the principle of one single nomenclature.

(6) The use of simplification thresholds is an efficient tool to reduce the burdens of declaration on businesses in particular the SMEs,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

In Article 28(5) of Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 the first subparagraph shall be replaced by the following:

"5. Simplification thresholds shall exempt parties required to provide information from the full provisions of Article 23; these parties need only report in the declarations referred to in Article 13(1) a maximum of 10 of the finest relevant subheadings of the Combined Nomenclature that are the most important in terms of value and shall regroup the other products in residual subheadings according to detailed arrangements to be determined by the Commission pursuant to Article 30. For each of the aforementioned subheadings, in addition to the code number referred to in the second indent of Article 21, the Member State of consignment or destination and the value of the goods need to be stated."

Article 2

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

It shall apply from 1 January 2001.

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

Done at ...

For the European Parliament

The President

...

For the Council

The President

...

(1) OJ C 245, 12.8.1997, p. 12 and

OJ C 164, 29.5.1998, p. 14.

(2) Opinion delivered on 29 October 1997 (OJ C 19, 21.1.1998, p. 52).

(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 1 April 1998 (OJ C 138, 4.5.1998, p. 92), Council common position of 28 February 2000 and Decision of the European Parliament of ... (not yet published in the Official Journal).

(4) OJ L 316, 16.11.1991, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1182/1999 (OJ L 144, 9.6.1999, p. 1).

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. INTRODUCTION

1. On 4 June 1997 the Commission presented a proposal(1) on the basis of Article 100a (now Article 95) of the EC Treaty on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States, with specific reference to a simplified application of the nomenclature of products.

2. The European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee delivered their opinions on 1 April 1998(2) and 29 October 1997(3) respectively.

Following the opinion of the European Parliament, the Commission presented an amended proposal on 27 April 1998(4).

3. On 28 February 2000, the Council adopted its common position in accordance with Article 251 of the Treaty.

II. OBJECTIVE

4. The Intrastat system was introduced on 1 January 1993 following the abolition of customs formalities within the Community. The system lays down the rules for the collection and compilation of statistics on the trading of goods between Member States.

The proposal seeks to simplify the reporting of statistics on trade between the Member States for the information providers, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises.

III. COMMON POSITION

5. When adopting the Regulation on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between the Member States with a view to reducing the data to be provided(5), the Council declared its intention of examining the proposal on the nomenclature of products, while preserving the principle of one single nomenclature and taking into account the amendments of the European Parliament and the ongoing discussions conducted by the Commission in the SLIM framework (Simpler Legislation for the Internal Market).

6. Broadly speaking, the Commission proposal has been reworked during discussions in the Council. However, the common position has adopted most of the European Parliament's amendments.

7. Amendment 3 concerning the simplified application of the Combined Nomenclature has been incorporated into the fourth recital. Amendment 4 regarding the simplification of nomenclature as a pilot project has been worked into the fifth recital.

8. The principle of the uniform use of nomenclature in both intra-Community and external trade (Amendment 5) is contained in the fifth recital.

9. Amendments 6 and 7 concerning cooperation between the Commission, the Member States and European trade and industry organisations have, in substance, been accepted in the fifth recital.

10. The Council has further accepted Amendment 8 in part. Article 28(5) of the common position provides for goods to be identified by the subheadings of the current version of the Combined Nomenclature. The Council also accepts the principles laid down in the other part of Amendment 8 which seeks to reduce the statistical burden of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Nevertheless, the Council feels that a different way of reducing the burden ought to be used: the Council considers that the SMEs need only to report a maximum of 10 of the subheadings that are the most important in terms of value and regroup the other products in residual subheadings, using implementing rules to be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 30 of Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91.

11. After taking over the majority of the amendments, the Council thinks that it has, all in all, achieved a fair balance between the aim of lightening the declaration burden for SMEs, on the one hand, and the need for reliable statistics, on the other.

(1) OJ C 245, 12.8.1997, p. 12.

(2) OJ C 138, 4.5.1998, p. 90.

(3) OJ C 19, 21.1.1998, p. 52.

(4) OJ C 164, 29.5.1998, p. 14.

(5) OJ L 144, 9.6.1999, p. 1.