COMMON POSITION (EC) No 46/98 adopted by the Council on 20 July 1998 with a view to adopting European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No .../98 of ... amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States with a view to reducing the data to be provided
Date: 1998-07-20
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: aid to undertakings, intra-EU trade, simplification of formalities, small and medium-sized enterprises, statistics, trading operation

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I

(Information)

COUNCIL

COMMON  POSITION  (EC)  No  46/98

adopted  by  the  Council  on  20  July  1998

with  a  view  to  adopting  European  Parliament  and  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  . . ./98  of  . . .
amending  Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No  3330/91  on  the  statistics  relating  to  the  trading  of
goods  between  Member  States  with  a  view  to  reducing  the  data  to  be  provided

(98/C 285/01)

THE  EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT  AND  THE  COUNCIL
OF  THE  EUROPEAN  UNION,

for  the  internal  market)  initiative,  aims  to  improve
enterprises’  competitiveness  and  job-creation  potential;

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European
Community,  and  in  particular  Article  100a  thereof,

Having  regard  to  the  proposal  from  the  Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (2),

Acting  in  accordance  with  the  procedure  laid  down  in
Article  189b  of  the  Treaty (3),

Whereas,  pursuant  to  Regulation  (EEC)  No  3330/91 (4),
the  Community  and  the  Member  States  have  been
compiling  statistics  relating  to  the  trading  of  goods
between Member States (Intrastat) during the transitional
period  beginning  on  1  January  1993  and  ending  on  the
date of changeover to a unified system of taxation in the
Member  State  of  origin;

Whereas  the  simplification  of  legislation  for  the  internal
market,  as  formulated  in  the  SLIM  (simpler  legislation

(1) OJ  C  203,  3.7.1997,  p.  10.
(2) OJ  C  19,  21.1.1998,  p.  49.
(3) Opinion  of  the  European  Parliament  of  1  April  1998  (OJ
C  138,  4.5.1998,  p.  90),  Council  Common  Position  of
20  July  1998  (not  yet  published  in  the  Official  Journal).
Decision  of  the  European  Parliament  of 
. . .  (not  yet
published  in  the  Official  Journal).

(4) OJ  L  316,  16.11.1991,  p.  1.  Regulation  as  amended  by
Commission  Regulation  (EEC)  No  3046/92  (OJ  L  307,
23.10.1992,  p.  27).

Whereas  the  simplification  of  the  Intrastat  system  was
chosen  as  a  SLIM  pilot  project,  and  specific  proposals
formulated  by  the  SLIM-Intrastat  Working  Party  with  a
view  to  reducing  the  burden  on  providers  of  statistical
information which were contained in a communication to
the  European  Parliament  and  to  the  Council  have  been
endorsed  by  those  institutions;

Whereas  limiting  the  information  on  declarations,  while
maintaining  an  acceptable  level  of  information  for  users,
is  a  prime  means  of  reducing  the  burden  on  providers  of
statistical  information;

Whereas  deletion  of  the  mode  of  transport  and  the
delivery  terms  is  one  of  these  simplification  measures;
whereas, however, reporting in the country of origin, the
region  of  origin  and/or  the  region  of  destination  as  well
as  of  the  statistical  procedure  is  of  particular  benefit  to
many  users  and  should  therefore  be  retained;

Whereas  it  is  necessary  for  certain  Member  States  to
require  reporting  of  delivery  terms  and  the  presumed
mode of transport; whereas, however, it is desirable, after
consultation  in  the  Committee  on  Statistics,  to  set
thresholds below which Member States may not prescribe
such statistical data, in order to avoid a disproportionate
burden  for  small  and  medium-sized  undertakings;

Whereas,  in  order  to  meet  the  expectations  of  the
providers  of  statistical  information  and  take  account  of
the  Member  States’  differing  administrative  structures,

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national  administrations  should  be  afforded  greater
flexibility 
the
transmission  of  declarations;

the  deadlines 

laying  down 

for 

in 

such 

Whereas 
simplification  may  cause  practical
difficulties for certain national administrations; whereas it
is  necessary  to  confer  on  the  Commission,  acting  in
(EEC)
accordance  with  Article  30  of  Regulation 
No  3330/91, 
to
individual  Member  States  allowing  them  to  defer  the
application of this Regulation for a transitional period of
up  to  two  years,

to  grant  derogations 

the  power 

(c) paragraph  3  becomes  paragraph  4  and  the
following  new  paragraph  3  shall  be  inserted:

‘3.
In  the  case  of  providers  of  statistical
information whose annual value of arrivals or of
dispatches falls below the thresholds fixed by the
Member  States  after 
the
Committee  set  up  under  Article  29,  it  shall  not
be prescribed that data other than those listed in
paragraphs 1 and 2 be provided for such arrivals
or  dispatches  on  the  statistical  data  medium.

consultation 

in 

HAVE  ADOPTED  THIS  REGULATION:

Article  1

Member  States  may  require  other  providers  of
statistical  information  to  supply  the  following
additional data:

(a)

the  delivery  terms;

(b)

the  presumed  mode  of  transport.’;

Regulation  (EEC)  No  3330/91  is  hereby  amended  as
follows:

(d)

the  following  paragraph  shall  be  added:

1. Article  13(1)  shall  be  replaced  by  the  following:

system 

The  statistical  information  required  by  the
‘1.
Intrastat 
in  periodic
shall  be  covered 
declarations  to  be  sent  by  the  party  responsible  for
providing  the  information  to  the  competent  national
departments, under conditions which the Commission
shall  lay  down  pursuant  to  Article  30.’;

‘5.
The  Commission  shall  ensure  publication
of  a  list  of  the  data  required  of  providers  of
statistical  information  by  the  Member  States,  as
well as the thresholds referred to in paragraph 3,
in 
the  European
Communities.’

the  Official 

Journal  of 

2. Article  23  shall  be  amended  as  follows:

Article  2

(a)

in  paragraph  (1)  the  points  (f)  and  (g)  shall  be
deleted;

(b) Paragraph 
following:

(2) 

shall  be 

replaced  by 

the

‘2. Member  States  may  prescribe  that  the
following  additional  data  be  provided  on  the
statistical  data  medium:

in  national
Where  significant  changes  are  required 
statistical  systems,  the  Commission  may,  acting 
in
accordance  with  the  procedure  set  out  in  Article  30  of
Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91, grant derogations
to  individual  Member  States  allowing  them  to  defer  the
application of this Regulation for a transitional period of
up  to  two  years.

(a)

(b)

in  the  Member  State  of  arrival,  the  country
of  origin;  however,  that  information  may
only  be  prescribed  within  the 
limits  of
Community  law;

Article  3

in  the  Member  State  of  dispatch,  the  region
of origin; in the Member State of arrival, the
region  of  destination;

This  Regulation  shall  enter  into  force  on  the  twentieth
day  following  that  of  its  publication  in  the  Official
Journal  of  the  European  Communities.

(c) Where 

appropriate, 

the 

statistical

procedure.’;

It  shall  apply  from  1  January  1999.

This  Regulation  shall  be  binding  in  its  entirety  and  directly  applicable  in  all  Member  States.

Done  at  . . .

For  the  European  Parliament

The  President

For  the  Council

The  President

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STATEMENT  OF  THE  COUNCIL’S  REASONS

I.

INTRODUCTION

1. On  30  May  1997,  the  Commission  presented  a  proposal  based  on  Article  100a  of  the
EC  Treaty  on  the  statistics  relating  to  the  trading  of  goods  between  Member  States.

2. The  European  Parliament  and  the  Economic  and  Social  Committee  delivered  their

Opinions  on  1  April  1998 (1)  and  29  October  1997 (2)  respectively.

Following  the  Opinion  of  the  European  Parliament,  the  Commission  presented  an
amended  proposal  on  27  April  1998 (3).

3. The Council adopted its common position, under Article 189b of the Treaty, on 20 July

1998.

II. OBJECTIVE

4. The Intrastat system was introduced on 1 April 1993 following the abolition of customs
formalities  within  the  Community.  The  system  lays  down  the  rules  for  the  collection
and  compilation  of  statistics  on  the  trading  of  goods  between  Member  States.  The
proposal seeks to reduce the administrative burden on businesses by abolishing some of
the  data  which  they  are  at  present  required  to  supply  to  national  authorities.

III. THE  COMMON  POSITION

5. Broadly  speaking,  the  Commission  proposal  has  been  reworked  during  the  discussions
in  the  Council.  However,  the  common  position  takes  account  of  the  wishes  expressed
by  the  European  Parliament  on  several  important  points  listed  below.

6. Concerning  the  data  to  be  forwarded  to  the  national  administrations,  the  Council
accepted  the  part  of  amendment  No  1  (accepted  by  the  Commission)  designed  to  limit
the  administrative  burden  on  firms,  and  in  particular  on  small  and  medium-sized
enterprises  (SMEs).

The  introduction  of  a  threshold  definitively  frees  SMEs  from  declaring  data  on  the
means  of  transport  and  terms  of  delivery  (Article  23(3)).  Optional  data  (data  which  a
Member  State  may  stipulate)  have,  moreover,  been  reduced  to  two  variables  and
consequently  SMEs  will  to  totally  exempt  from  declaring  four  variables.

Nevertheless,  in  order  to  compile  reliable  statistics  on  goods  traded  between  Member
States, the Council considers that Member States unable to obtain the requisite data by
other  means  may  require  businesses  other  than  SMEs  to  supply  data  on  delivery  terms
and  the  presumed  mode  of  transport.

7. From  amendment  No  2  relating  to  Article  23(2)  (approved  by  the  Commission  except
for  the  immediate  deletion  of  ‘delivery  terms’),  the  Council  has  incorporated  into  its
common  position  the  part  about  the  introduction  of  a  threshold  so  as  to  limit  the
number  of  SMEs  required  to  provide  detailed  statistical  data.

(1) OJ  C  138,  4.5.1998,  p.  90.
(2) OJ  C  19,  21.1.1998,  p.  49.
(3) OJ  C  171,  5.6.1998,  p.  12.

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The  Council  has  then  partly  incorporated  in  its  common  position  that  element  of  the
amendment  which  allows  Member  States  to  ask  those  making  returns  for  the  variables
concerning the region of origin and the region of arrival. The Council further considers
that  it  is  for  the  Member  States  to  determine  the  statistical  system  and  it  has  not
therefore  eliminated  that  possibility  from  its  common  position.

The Council was, however, unable to take over certain parts of amendment No 2, since
it  thought  that  the  threshold  below  which  Member  States  could  not  require  certain
figures  for  SMEs  should  be  determined  by  the  Member  States  in  consultation  with  the
Committee  on  Statistics  relating  to  the  Trading  of  Goods  between  Member  States.

Furthermore,  the  Council  did  not  agree  that  optional  information  could  be  stipulated
solely  for  businesses  other  than  SMEs.

8. After  taking  over  a  number  of  important  points  from  the  European  Parliament
amendments,  the  Council  thought  that  it  had,  all  in  all,  achieved  a  fair  balance  not
merely  between  different  positions  within  the  Council,  but  also  between  the  aim  of
lightening  the  declaration  burden  on  firms,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  need  for  reliable
statistics,  on  the  other.

IV. CONCLUSION

The  Council  considers  that  its  common  position  entails  above  all  advantages  for  SMEs,
which  will  be  exempt  from  declaring  four  variables.