WRITTEN QUESTION E-3751/00 by Glenys Kinnock (PSE) to the Commission. The imposition of VAT on recombinant blood products.
Date: 2000-12-04
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: VAT, VAT rate, blood disease, tax harmonisation, trade in organs

3.7.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 187 E/37

(2001/C 187 E/038)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3739/00

by Jens-Peter Bonde (EDD) to the Commission

(28 November 2000)

Subject: Destruction of a Kurdish town

What grounds are there for giving any support for the GAP (South-East Anatolia Project) which would
dam the Tigris and Euphrates and submerge large parts of south eastern Turkey, including an ancient
Kurdish town of great historical significane to the Kurdish people?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(5 January 2001)

The Commission has no intention to use Community budget funds for the financing of dams on the Tigris
and Euphrates.

But it plans to co-finance a regional development programme in the GAP region, whose specific objectives
are to increase employment opportunities, to support income generating activities for the rural population,
to renovate and restore important cultural heritage sites and to promote cultural and touristic potential, as
well as to improve the environmental conditions in the region.

(2001/C 187 E/039)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3751/00

by Glenys Kinnock (PSE) to the Commission

(4 December 2000)

Subject: The imposition of VAT on recombinant blood products

Will the Commission investigate the imposition of VAT on recombinant blood products in each Member
State? Is the Commission aware that this is a matter of concern for people suffering from haemophilia?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(8 February 2001)

Under the present rules of 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 (cid:129) Common system of value added tax:
uniform basis of assessment (1), the tax liability of recombinant blood products will vary according to the
exact nature of what is being provided.

Whilst there is an exemption (provided by Article 13(A)(1)(d)) which applies to whole human blood, this
does not include supplies of products derived from human blood. However, blood products treated as
medicinal products, in accordance with the concepts defined by Council Directive 89/381/EEC of 14 June
1989, extending the scope of Directives 65/65/EEC and 75/319/EEC on the approximation of provisions
laid down by Law, Regulation or Administrative Action relating to proprietary medicinal products and
laying down special provisions for medicinal products derived from human blood or human plasma (2)
may be taxed at a reduced VAT rate, under Article 12(3)(a) and category 3 of Annex H of the 77/388/EEC
Directive. The reduced rate would also apply to the recombinant blood products developed by means of
biotechnological processes, included in part A of the Annex to the Council Regulation (EEC) No 2309/93,
of 22 July 1993, laying down Community procedures for the authorisation and supervision of medicinal
products for human and veterinary use and establishing a European Agency for the Evaluation of
Medicinal products (3). Blood products other than those mentioned above must be taxed at the standard
rate.

C 187 E/38

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.7.2001

The Commission is aware that a lack of consistency in this matter exists and intends to address this in the
near future, in the context of its new VAT strategy for the improvement of the operation of the VAT
system within the Internal Market (4).

(1) OJ L 145, 13.6.1977.
(2) OJ L 181, 28.6.1989. As a result of this Directive, products based on blood constituents, which are prepared
industrially by public or private establishments are considered to be medicinal products derived from human blood
or human plasma. This is the case with albumin, coagulating factors and immunoglobulins of human origin.

(3) OJ L 214, 24.8.1993.
(4) COM(2000) 348 final, available on the Europa site at:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/publications/official_doc/com/com.htm.

(2001/C 187 E/040)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3754/00

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(4 December 2000)

Subject: Spatial planning in the EU: TERRA programme

TERRA was one of the programmes adopted in the framework of the innovatory measures regulated by
Article 10 of the ERDF Regulation for the period 1994-1999, under which a number of projects were
financed in the period 1997-1999. The TERRA programme was conceived, together with the Community
initiative Interreg II C, as a laboratory for testing new instruments and methods of spatial planning and
evaluating the options proposed by the European Spatial Strategy (ESS).

Can the Commission provide information on the results of TERRA and the conclusions it has drawn from
those results, as well as their relationship to and influence on the ESS, especially regarding the outlying
maritime regions of Objective 1 as it applies to the existing EU?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(25 January 2001)

The TERRA programme was conceived as a laboratory for testing new spatial planning approaches and
procedures. Various orientations emerged that can serve as guidance for other projects at local, regional,
national and Community level, such as the need for new approaches to spatial planning itself, prioritisation
of sustainability in local development, the importance of partnership between local people and local
administrations, the synergies yielded by interregional cooperation, and development of new instruments
such as support observatories for integrated development policies.

A number of TERRA projects involved outlying maritime regions.

The LORE project, coordinated by the local authority for Ikaria in Greece in partnership with Alcamo and
Ragusa in Sicily and Iraklio and Magnisia in Greece, permitted establishment and operation of local
observatories tasked with setting up a coordination and control mechanism for spatial planning hitherto
the province of local authorities and other local agents.

The DIAS project, coordinated by the Cretan regional authority in partnership with Siracusa in Sicily, is
concerned with spatial planning focused on protection, management and promotion of the natural
environment and cultural heritage of zones displaying common features and problems. Development
strategies have been proposed for certain Mediterranean, mountain and coastal zones with great environ-
mental and cultural richness but at serious risk owing to population pressure.