COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 27.04.1998 
COM(1998) 270 final 
97/0155 (COD) 
Amended proposal for a 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) 
amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 on the statistics relating to the 
trading of goods between Member States (INTRASTAT) 
(presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 a (2) 
of the EC-Treaty) 

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 
1 The Commission has studied the report of the European Parliament1 and the adopted 
amendments2. 
2. The Commission approves the amendments of the European Parliament except the 
immediate deletion of the "delivery terms" (amendment 2). The Commission 
recommends a transition period for the suppression of this data element to allow the 
Member States to adjust their statistical systems in order to compensate for this loss of 
information. 
3. The Commission agrees to maintaining the region of origin/destination as optional 
data elements, and has taken into consideration the importance of this information for 
some Member States. However, the Commission is undertaking a study to examine the 
possibilities of using alternative sources for the collection of this data item, e.g. 
administrative registers. 
4. The Commission shares the point of view of the European Parliament that the 
simplifications should be designed in particular for the SMEs for whom the declarative 
burden is often disproportionate to the utility of the trade statistics. This can be 
achieved by introducing thresholds for the collection of the optional data elements. 
The Commission finds that such measures will reinforce the simplification impact of 
the revised proposal, and will respond to the complaints of the providers in terms of 
the excessive declaration burden. 
5. The Commission finds it important to achieve concrete legislative results, and 
emphasizes the strong political support which has been expressed in respect of the 
SLIM project of which INTRASTAT is part. 
1 A4-0102/98 of 19 March, 1998 
2 PE 268.231 of 1 April, 1998 
Z 
Amended proposal for a 
European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) 
amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 on the statistics relating to the 
trading of goods between Member States (INTRASTAT) 
Text proposed by the Commission( ) Amendments proposed 
(Amendment 1) 
Recital 6 
Whereas optional data should be 
abolished in order to limit the burden on 
providers of statistical information and to 
guarantee equal treatment of these; 
whereas the reporting of the country of 
origin is nevertheless of particular benefit 
to numerous users and should therefore 
be retained; Whereas the mode of transport, the terms 
of delivery as well as optional data should 
be abolished for enterprises with limited 
trade, in order to limit the burden on 
providers of statistical information^ 
particularly small and medium-sized 
enterprises; whereas the collection of such 
information from other enterprises should 
be limited according to national 
requirements; 
(Amendment 2) 
ARTICLE 1(4) 
Article 23(2) (Regulation (EEC) 3330/91) 
Member States may not require the 
statistical data medium to mention data 
other than those provided for in paragraph 
1, with the exception of the following: In order to limit the number of small and 
medium-sized enterprises which are 
required to provide detailed statistical data 
the Commission shall determine, pursuant 
to Article 30 of this Regulation, a 
threshold below which the Member States 
may not require the statistical data 
medium to mention data other than those 
provided for in paragraph 1. The threshold 
shall be set at the highest level at which 
the compatibility of the information 
collected in the Member States can be 
guaranteed. To that end, the Commission 
may set different values for different 
Member States. 
(')QJC 203, 3.7.1997, p. 10. 
3 
Apart from the data provided for in 
paragraph 1, Member States may, solely in 
respect of providers of statistical 
information with dispatches or arrivals of 
an annual value in excess of the above 
threshold, require the statistical data 
medium to mention the following data: 
(a) in the Member State of arrival, the (a) in the Member State of arrival, the 
country of origin; country of origin; 
(b) the terms of delivery until (b) me terms of ddivery umi| 
31 December 1999. 3, Decemher 1999. 
(c) in the Member State of dispatch, the 
region of origin and in the Member 
State of arrival, the region of 
destination. 
y 
ISSN 0254-1475 
COM(98) 270 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 17 06 02 10 
Catalogue number : CB-C0-98-284-EN-C 
ISBN 92-78-35473-2 
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 
L-2985 Luxembourg