WRITTEN QUESTION P-2500/99

by Françoise Grossetête (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(16 December 1999)

Subject: Common system of value-added tax the place where services are supplied

Which precise provision of Article 9 of the Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC(1) of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes should, in the Commission's opinion and subject to the application of Article 9(3) of the Directive, apply to the following services when they are supplied to a taxable person established in a country (be it a Member State or third country) other than that where the provider of the services is established:

- the installation and renting out of stands offering another firm, as either a means or an end, the opportunity to advertise the qualities of its products at trade fairs;

- management and administrative services offered by a parent company to other firms in the group;

- the services of company directors;

- the transport by pipeline of liquid or gas from one Member State to another;

- the management of a joint investment fund established in another Member State;

- telephone communications in medium and long-haul aircraft;

- music recording services intended for the creation of master tapes facilitating the publication of compact discs in another Member State;

- the hire of lorries or railway trucks ito be used for transport throughout the Community, when the lessor is established outside the Community and the lessee is established in a Member State which avails itself of the option referred to in Article 9(3) of Directive 77/388/EEC;

- the hiring out to a body governed by public law of movable property to enable it to carry on activities as a such a body and other activities referred to in Article 13 of Directive 77/388/EEC;

- the services of soil analysis and the decontamination of soil polluted by industrial activities;

- services carried out between two establishments belonging to the same legal entity but subject to VAT in two separate Member States;

- the hiring out of containers, pallets and cranes;

- the services of lawyers and arbitrators in trade disputes?

(1) OJ L 145, 13.6.1977, p. 1.

Joint answer to Written Questions P- 2500/99 and P-2751/99 given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(20 January 2000)

The Honourable Member raises a series of complex and difficult issues under Community VAT legislation. Their tax treatment requires a detailed analysis of Articles 9 and 13 of the Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment to determine whether or not exemptions apply in each case.

This question is broad in scope, highly specific in nature, and applies to a wide range of services; to answer it would require detailed case-by-case study. The Commission would point out to the Honourable Member that such a detailed response would entail long and complex research which it is currently unable to undertake and which would far exceed what could reasonably be expected in the context of an answer to a written question.