WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1471/99 by Elly PLOOIJ-VAN GORSEL New German tax legislation for the building sector
Date: 1999-09-01
Institutions: European Parliament, PLOOIJ-VAN GORSEL
Subjects: Germany, building industry, infringement of EU law, tax harmonisation

C 27 E/38

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

29.1.2000

For the Commission(cid:146)s assistance, I attach an article from the newspaper Die Welt of 22 May 1999 entitled
(cid:145)Granting of contracts to foreigners made more difficult(cid:146).

(2000/C 27 E/044)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1471/99

by Elly Plooij-van Gorsel (ELDR) to the Commission

Subject: New German tax legislation for the building sector

(1 September 1999)

New tax legislation for the building sector came into force in Germany on 1 April 1999, including Article
50a (7) and (8) concerning the 25 % rule. The effect of this rule is that bodies using foreign companies (as
contractors or sub-contractors) to carry out work in Germany must withhold 25 % of the gross sum
involved and forward it to the tax authorities. A refund can only be made in the subsequent calendar year
when the foreign company has furnished proof that it is not liable to taxation in Germany.

1.

Is the Commission familiar with Article 50a of the new German law?

Can the Commission examine whether the article in question is consistent with EEC legislation, in

2.
particular with the provisions on the Internal Market?

If not, does the Commission take the view that

3.
disadvantage compared with German companies?

this legislation puts foreign companies at a

4. What action does the Commission intend to take to put a stop to this?

Joint answer
to Written Questions P-1385/99, E-1389/99 and E-1471/99
given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(14 September 1999)

The Commission is aware of the new German tax provision included in the Act of 24 March 1999, which
came into force on 1 April. An investigation has shown that this legislation could affect the freedom to
provide services, one of the four freedoms on which the single market is based. On 28 July the
Commission decided to initiate an infringement procedure against Germany under Article 226 of the EC
Treaty (formerly Article 169).

According to the latest information from the German Government, it has tabled a bill designed to abolish
the provision at issue.

(2000/C 27 E/045)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1387/99

by Carlos Costa Neves (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(1 September 1999)

Subject: Production of refined sugar in the Azores Autonomous Region

Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) 1600/92 of 15 June 1992 (known as the Poseima regulation) (1) lays down
the objective of establishing (cid:145)specific measures to remedy, in respect of certain agricultural products, the
difficulties caused by the remote and insular nature of the Azores and Madeira(cid:146).

The Azores Autonomous Region has the clearly-established right to import sugar-cane, (cid:145)in such a way that
the total annual volume of sugar refined in the Azores does not exceed 10 000 tonnes(cid:146). This limit (cid:145)shall be
assessed taking account of the development of local sugar beet production(cid:146) (cid:129) in other words, the amount
of sugar produced from beet (see Poseima, Article 3(4)). This means that the limit of 10 000 tonnes on