2000/435/EC: Council Decision of 29 June 2000 amending Decisions 97/375/EC, 97/510/EC, 98/20/EC, 98/23/EC and 98/161/EC
Date: 2000-06-29
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Netherlands, United Kingdom, VAT, approximation of laws, tax harmonisation

L 172/24

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

12.7.2000

COUNCIL DECISION

of 29 June 2000

amending Decisions 97/375/EC, 97/510/EC, 98/20/EC, 98/23/EC and 98/161/EC

(2000/435/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to 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 (1), and in particular
Article 27 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (2),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Under Article 27(1) of the Sixth Directive, the Council,
acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commis-
sion, may authorise any Member State to introduce or
extend special measures
for derogation from the
Directive, in order to simplify the procedure for charging
the tax or to prevent certain types of tax evasion or
avoidance.

the
By letters received by the Secretariat-General of
the
Ireland,
Commission on 11 November 1999,
Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland requested the exten-
sion until 31 December 2003 of several authorisations
originally granted by the Council until 31 December
1999.

Ireland has requested an extension of Decision 97/
510/EC (3) authorising it to apply a measure derogating
from Article 21 of the Sixth Directive, which enabled it
to combat tax evasion and tax fraud in the real-estate
sector.

The Netherlands has requested the extension of two
Decisions, namely Decision 98/20/EC (4), allowing the
application in the ready-to-wear clothing industry of a
scheme for shifting to the tax authorities to the clothing
firm (the contractor) the subcontractor's obligation to
pay VAT, and Decision 98/161/EC (5) allowing the
application of a special taxation scheme for used and
waste materials. Both of these measures should allow the
effective combating of fraud in the sectors concerned.

The United Kingdom has asked for the extension of
Decision 98/23/EC (6) allowing the appropriate author-
ities, under certain conditions, to direct that the open-
market value be taken as the taxable amount for intra-
Community acquisitions of goods where there are

legal or business links between the person
family,
acquiring the goods and the supplier. This special
measure is an anti-avoidance measure derogating from
Article 28e(1) of the Sixth Directive.

The United Kingdom has also requested an extension of
Decision 97/375/EC (7) authorising it
to extend the
application of an optional cash accounting scheme for
enterprises with an annual turnover below a certain
ceiling, whereby tax is assessed on the basis of payments
made and received. In addition, the United Kingdom has
asked to be able to raise the ceiling of GBP 400 000 to
GBP 600 000. Raising the ceiling for the simplified
scheme, and thus also for the derogation which forms
an integral part of it, will allow a greater number of
firms to opt for the scheme.

The matters of
fact which justified the
application of the special measures in question have not
changed and still pertain.

law and of

The period for the authorisations should therefore be
extended until 31 December 2003 and the ceiling of
GBP 400 000 in Article 1 of Decision 97/375/EC
should be raised to GBP 600 000.

The derogations in question have no impact on the
European Communities' own resources from valued
added tax,

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Article 1 of Decision 97/375/EC shall be replaced by the
following:

‘Article 1

By way of derogation from the provisions of Article 17(1)
of Directive 77/388/EEC, the United Kingdom is hereby
authorised, until 31 December 2003, to provide, within an
optional scheme, that enterprises with an annual turnover
not higher than GBP 600 000 must postpone the right of
it has been paid to the supplier.’
deduction of tax until

Article 2

(1) OJ L 145, 13.6.1977, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Directive

99/85/EC (OJ L 277, 28.10.1999, p. 34).
(2) Not yet published in the Official Journal.
(3) OJ L 214, 6.8.1997, p. 37.
(4) OJ L 8, 14.1.1998, p. 16.
(5) OJ L 53, 24.2.1998, p. 19.
(6) OJ L 8, 14.1.1998, p. 24.

In Article 1 of Decisions 97/510/EC, 98/20/EC, 98/23/EC and
98/161/EC the date 31 December 1999 shall be replaced by 31
December 2003.

(7) OJ L 158, 17.6.1997, p. 43.

12.7.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 172/25

This Decision is addressed to Ireland, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland.

Article 3

Done at Luxembourg, 29 June 2000.

For the Council

The President

M. ARCANJO