22. 5. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities NoC 131/3 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
COMMISSION 
Amendment to the proposal for a Council Directive supplementing the common system of value 
added tax (VAT) and amending Directive 77/388/EEC — Abolition of tax frontiers and tran­
sitional arrangements for taxation with a view to establishment of the internal market 
(91/C 131/03) 
COM(91) 157 final 
(Submitted by the Commission pursuant to Article 149 (3) of the EEC Treaty on 2 May 1991) 
The Commission hereby amends its amended proposal as 
follows: 
1. The following recitals are inserted between the fourth 
and fifth recitals: 
(a) the following fifth recital is added: 
'Whereas the Member States have undertaken to 
abolish all restrictions on travellers' purchases by 
1 January 1993;' 
(b) the following sixth recital is added: 
"Whereas the Member States have already 
undertaken to bring about a convergence of VAT 
rates applicable from 1 January 1993;' 
(c) the following seventh recital is added: 
'Whereas an equitable clearing-house system must 
also be set up when definitive arrangements are 
introduced;' 
(d) the following eight recital is added: 
'Whereas, while attempts must be made to ease 
the administrative and statistical formalities that 
have to be completed by firms, efforts are also 
needed for both economic and tax reasons to 
maintain the quality of the Community's statistical 
machinery;' 
(e) the following ninth recital is added: 
'Whereas the transitional period must be used to 
take measures to "offset the social repercussions in 
the occupations concerned and to prevent regional problems arising, notably in trans­
frontier regions, from the abolition of tax 
frontiers;' 
(f) the fifth recital reading: 
'Whereas, consequently, Council Directive 
77/388/EEC, as last amended by the Act of 
Accession of Spain and Portugal, should be 
amended, and the Directives dealing with 
exemption at importation should be modified;' 
becomes the tenth recital. 
2. Article 1 is amended as follows: 
(a) A new point 2 is added after point 1: 
'2. At the end of the second subparagraph of 
Article 4 (5), "significant" is deleted from 
"where treatment as non-taxable persons 
would lead to significant distortions of compe­
tition".' 
Point 2 becomes point 3. 
Point 3 becomes point 4. 
Point 4 becomes point 5. 
Point 5 becomes point 6. 
Point 6 becomes point 7. 
Point 7 becomes point 8. 
Point 8 becomes point 9. 
Point 9 becomes point 10. 
NoC 131/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 22. 5. 91 
Point 10 becomes po 
Point 11 becomes po 
Point 12 becomes po 
Point 13 becomes po 
Point 14 becomes po 
Point 15 becomes po 
Point 16 becomes po 
Point 17 becomes po 
Point 18 becomes po 
Point 19 becomes po 
Point 20 becomes po 
Point 21 becomes po 
Point 22 becomes po 
Point 23 becomes po 
Point 24 becomes po 
Point 25 becomes po 
Point 26 becomes po 
Point 27 becomes po nt 11. 
nt 12. 
nt 13. 
nt 14. 
nt 15. 
nt 16. 
nt 17. 
nt 18. 
nt 19. 
nt20. 
nt21. 
nt22. 
nt23. 
nt24. 
nt25. 
nt 26. 
nt27. 
nt28; 
(b) a new point 29 is added: 
'29. In Article 17 (7), "for a limited period and" 
is added after "Subject to the consultation 
provided for in Article 29, each Member 
State may, ...".'; 
(c) Point 28 becomes point 30. 
Point 29 becomes point 31; 
(d) a new point 32 is added: 
'32. The third indent of Article 22 (9) is replaced 
by the following: 
"— from payment of the tax due where the 
amount is less than ECU 100 at the rate 
of exchange in national currency of the day on which this Directive is 
adopted".' 
3. Article 2 is amended as follows: 
(a) The introductory part of Article 2 which reads: 
'Article 28 of Directive 77/388/EEC is hereby 
replaced by the following:' is replaced by the 
following: 
'Article 28 of Directive 77/388/EEC, with the 
exception of paragraph 2, which will continue to 
apply until the Council unanimously adopts, on a 
proposal from the Commission, provisions 
relating to the approximation of VAT rates, and 
with the exception of paragraph 3 as amended by 
Directive 89/465/EEC ('), which will continue to 
apply until the Council unanimously adopts, on a 
proposal from the Commission, definitive 
arrangements for the derogations concerned here, 
subject, however, to deletion of the words 
"During the transitional period referred to in 
paragraph 4" at the beginning of said paragraph 
3, is hereby replaced by the following: ... 
O OJ No L 226, 3. 8. 1989 (Eighteenth Council 
VAT Directive of 18 July 1989).'; 
(b) in Article 2 (b), 'Without prejudice to other 
Community provisions and' is inserted before 
'Under conditions which they shall lay down for 
the purpose of ensuring the correct and straight­
forward application of the exemptions provided 
for below . . .'; 
(c) in Article 2 (g) the following subparagraph is 
added: 
'The Commission shall, before the end of the 
transitional period, submit a report on the 
conditions of taxation or exemption of these 
transactions.'