Common Position (EC) No 19/2000 of 28 February 2000 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, with a view to adopting a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States, with specific reference to a simplified application of the nomenclature of products
Date: 2000-02-28
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU statistics, intra-EU trade, simplification of formalities, statistics, tariff nomenclature, trading operation

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COMMON POSITION (EC) No 19/2000

adopted by the Council on 28 February 2000

with a view to adopting Regulation (EC) No (cid:133)/2000 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of (cid:133) amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 on the statistics relating to the
trading of goods between Member States, with specific reference to a simplified application of
the nomenclature of products

(2000/C 87/02)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL
OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 95 thereof,

(3) The simplification of the Intrastat system has been chosen
as a SLIM pilot project, and specific proposals drawn up
by the SLIM-Intrastat Working Party for reducing the
burden on providers of statistical information have been
the
communication to the European
Parliament and the Council and have been welcomed by
them.

subject of

a

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

(4) The simplified application of the product nomenclature is
one such proposal, since information providers generally
regard the classification of products as difficult.

Having regard to the opinion of
Committee (2),

the Economic and Social

(5)

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

Whereas:

(1) Under Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 (4),

the
Community and its Member States compile statistics
relating to the trading of goods between Member States
(Intrastat) during the transitional period which began on
1 January 1993 and will end on the date of changeover to
a unified system of taxation in the Member State of origin.

(2) The simplification of legislation for the internal market, as
formulated in the SLIM (Simpler Legislation for
the
Internal Market)
intended to improve
enterprises’ competitiveness and job creation potential.

initiative,

is

(1) OJ C 245, 12.8.1997, p. 12 and
OJ C 164, 29.5.1998, p. 14.

(2) Opinion delivered on 29 October 1997 (OJ C 19, 21.1.1998,

p. 52).

(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 1 April 1998 (OJ C 138,
4.5.1998, p. 92), Council common position of 28 February 2000
and Decision of the European Parliament of (cid:133) (not yet published
in the Official Journal).

(4) OJ L 316, 16.11.1991, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by

Regulation (EC) No 1182/1999 (OJ L 144, 9.6.1999, p. 1).

It is important to simplify the Combined Nomenclature to
be used on a uniform basis in both intra-Community and
external trade, so as to make it easier to apply the system
(cid:151) in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs);
the ongoing
discussions conducted by the Commission with Member
States and the European trade and industry organisations
in the SLIM framework should be taken into account,
preserving the principle of one single nomenclature.

in this context

the results of

(6) The use of simplification thresholds is an efficient tool
to reduce the burdens of declaration on businesses in
particular the SMEs,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

In Article 28(5) of Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 the first
subparagraph shall be replaced by the following:

thresholds

Simplification

(cid:145)5.
parties
required to provide information from the full provisions of
Article 23;
in the
declarations referred to in Article 13(1) a maximum of 10

these parties need only report

exempt

shall

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relevant

the finest

subheadings of

of
the Combined
in terms of
Nomenclature that are the most important
value and shall regroup the other products in residual
subheadings according to detailed arrangements
to be
determined by the Commission pursuant to Article 30. For
each of the aforementioned subheadings, in addition to the
code number referred to in the second indent of Article
21, the Member State of consignment or destination and
the value of the goods need to be stated.(cid:146)

Article 2

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

It shall apply from 1 January 2001.

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

Done at (cid:133)

For the European Parliament

The President

(cid:133)

For the Council

The President

(cid:133)

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STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL’S REASONS

I.

INTRODUCTION

1. On 4 June 1997 the Commission presented a proposal (1) on the basis of Article 100a (now
Article 95) of the EC Treaty on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member
States, with specific reference to a simplified application of the nomenclature of products.

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

1 April 1998 (2) and 29 October 1997 (3) respectively.

Following the opinion of the European Parliament, the Commission presented an amended
proposal on 27 April 1998 (4).

3. On 28 February 2000, the Council adopted its common position in accordance with Article 251

of the Treaty.

II. OBJECTIVE

4. The Intrastat system was introduced on 1 January 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 simplify the reporting of statistics on trade between the Member States for
the information providers, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises.

III. COMMON POSITION

5. When adopting the Regulation on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between the
Member States with a view to reducing the data to be provided (5), the Council declared its
intention of examining the proposal on the nomenclature of products, while preserving the
principle of one single nomenclature and taking into account the amendments of the European
Parliament and the ongoing discussions conducted by the Commission in the SLIM framework
(Simpler Legislation for the Internal Market).

6. Broadly speaking,
Council. However,
amendments.

the Commission proposal has been reworked during discussions in the
the European Parliament’s
the common position has adopted most of

7. Amendment 3 concerning the simplified application of the Combined Nomenclature has been
incorporated into the fourth recital. Amendment 4 regarding the simplification of nomenclature
as a pilot project has been worked into the fifth recital.

8. The principle of the uniform use of nomenclature in both intra-Community and external trade

(Amendment 5) is contained in the fifth recital.

9. Amendments 6 and 7 concerning cooperation between the Commission, the Member States and
European trade and industry organisations have, in substance, been accepted in the fifth recital.

(1) OJ C 245, 12.8.1997, p. 12.
(2) OJ C 138, 4.5.1998, p. 90.
(3) OJ C 19, 21.1.1998, p. 52.
(4) OJ C 164, 29.5.1998, p. 14.
(5) OJ L 144, 9.6.1999, p. 1.

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10. The Council has further accepted Amendment 8 in part. Article 28(5) of the common position
provides for goods to be identified by the subheadings of the current version of the Combined
Nomenclature. The Council also accepts
laid down in the other part of
Amendment 8 which seeks to reduce the statistical burden of small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs). Nevertheless, the Council feels that a different way of reducing the burden ought to be
used: the Council considers that the SMEs need only to report a maximum of 10 of the
subheadings that are the most important in terms of value and regroup the other products in
residual subheadings, using implementing rules to be adopted by the Commission in accordance
with the procedure laid down in Article 30 of Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91.

the principles

11. After taking over the majority of the amendments, the Council thinks that it has, all

in all,
achieved a fair balance between the aim of lightening the declaration burden for SMEs, on the
one hand, and the need for reliable statistics, on the other.