WRITTEN QUESTION P-2813/96 by Philippe-Armand Martin (UPE) to the Commission (16 October 1996)

Subject: Checks on the movement of goods subject to excise duty

Articles 2 and 3 of Regulation 2238/93 ((OJ L 200, 10.8.1993, p. 10. )) lay down the administrative procedure for the validation of accompanying documents.

Certain Member States, in applying this regulation, have interpreted it in different ways.

1. Is it justifiable that one Member State (Spain) should recognize 17 different control bodies?

2. In DOCM No 8, p. 580, of 16 February 1996, Section 5(1), Spanish legislation states that 'the documents will be validated by the consignors themselves by means of the stamp reproduced in Annex III to this text'. Does the Commission consider that this is a correct interpretation?

3. The annex to the text gives a model 'validation stamp' which does not state the name and address of the 'competent authority'. Does the commission consider that this is a correct interpretation?

4. Does not the Commission think that this procedure entails a risk of fraud and may render checks on the movement of goods subject to excise duty more difficult?

5. Where checks are carried out, does not an operator from another Member State who buys a Spanish wine risk being accused by his or her own national administration of failure to comply with Regulation 2238/93?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (12 November 1996)

Following the completion of the single market, the rules on documents accompanying the carriage of wine products and the relevant records to be kept in the wine sector were thoroughly revised to adapt them to the new tax rules on the movement of products subject to excise duty.

Regulation (EEC) No 2238/93 of 26 July 1993 on the accompanying documents for the carriage of wine products and the relevant records to be kept in the wine sector entered into force on 1 September 1993.

Over the past three years there have been certain instances in which the Member States have not always applied the Regulation properly (e.g. too many different documents, overlapping control bodies, incomplete descriptions of the product, etc.). The Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, has commenced a critical review of the Regulation in order to eliminate anything which might impede the proper execution and effectiveness of the measures introduced under it.

The Commission would like to give the following answers to the questions put by the Honourable Member:

1. Article 20 (1) of the Regulation provides that each Member State is to notify the Commission of the name and address of the authority or authorities competent for implementation of the Regulation, thus expressly providing that the Member State may recognize more than one control body;

2. The original of the accompanying document and a copy of it may be validated beforehand and for each consignment by the consignor by means of the prescribed stamp or the mark of a stamping machine approved by the competent authority (Article 3 (4));

3. According to the information available to the Commission, the 'validation stamp' referred to in Annex III to the Spanish law to which the Honourable Member refers must, in accordance with this legislation, be used in conjunction with section 4 of the accompanying document which appears as a specimen in Annex III of the Regulation.

4. The Commission is aware of one case of misinterpretation of the Regulation by an operator, involving movement within the Community of a product subject to excise duty. The consignor was obliged to use a document created in accordance with Council Directive 92/12/EEC of 25 February 1992 on general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products ((OJ L 76, 23.3.1992. )). The Commission contacted the national authorities concerned in order to avoid other similar cases.

5. Article 3 (1) of the Regulation provides that the document accompanying the carriage of a wine product must be completed under the responsibility of those who carry out the carriage operation or cause it to be carried out.

Where it is found that a document contains false, erroneous or incomplete particulars (Article 6 (5) of the Regulation), the competent authority of the Member State where this is discovered is to take the necessary measures; in the event of serious or repeated irregularities the competent local or regional authority at the place of unloading is to inform the competent local or regional authority at the place of loading, in accordance with Council Regulation (EEC) No 2048/89 laying down general arrangements on controls in the wine sector ((OJ L 202, 24.7.1989. )).