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)
Date: 1998-04-27
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Combined Nomenclature, extra-EU trade, intra-EU trade, statistics

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 
these; 
whereas  the  reporting  of  the  country  of 
origin  is nevertheless of particular  benefit 
to  numerous  users  and  should  therefore 
be retained; 

treatment  of 

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 
information^ 
statistical 
and  medium-sized 
particularly 
enterprises; whereas the collection  of such 
information  from  other  enterprises  should 
national 
according 
limited 
be 
requirements; 

small 

of 

to 

(Amendment 2) 
ARTICLE  1(4) 
Article 23(2) (Regulation (EEC) 3330/91) 

require 

enterprises  which 

In order  to  limit  the  number  of  small  and 
are 
medium-sized 
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 
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 
information 
collected  in  the  Member  States  can  be 
guaranteed.  To  that  end,  the  Commission 
may  set  different  values  for  different 
Member States. 

the 

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: 

(')QJC  203, 3.7.1997, p. 10. 

3 

of 

the  data  provided  for 

Apart  from 
in 
paragraph  1, Member States may, solely in 
respect 
statistical 
providers 
information  with  dispatches  or  arrivals  of 
an  annual  value  in  excess  of  the  above 
the  statistical  data 
threshold, 
medium to mention the following  data: 

require 

of 

(a) 

(b) 

in  the  Member  State  of  arrival,  the 
country of origin; 

(a) 

in  the  Member  State  of  arrival,  the 
country of origin; 

the 
terms 
31 December  1999. 

of 

delivery 

until 

( b)  me 

t e r ms 
3,  Decemher 

d d i v e ry 

of 
1999. 

u m i| 

(c) 

in the  Member  State  of dispatch,  the 
region  of  origin  and  in  the  Member 
State  of  arrival, 
region  of 
destination. 

the 

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 

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