WRITTEN QUESTION E-0341/01 by Karla Peijs (PPE-DE) and Bartho Pronk (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Imposition of special tax on use of cars with a foreign number plate.
Date: 2001-02-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European official, Netherlands, free movement of goods, motor vehicle, rights of civil servants, tax system, tax-free allowance, vehicle rental, vehicle tax

C 318 E/36

Official Journal of the European Communities

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13.11.2001

2. With regard to complaint 99/5049:

a)

the administrative examination has taken longer than usual because of the file complexity. The
allegations made are extremely grave and are being carefully examined by the Commission. With
regard to the required solvency certificates, the British authorities have confirmed that these have been
provided in accordance with the requirements of Council Directive 73/239/EEC. The Commission is
currently examining the nature of the solvency certificate provided. The British authorities are fully co-
operating with the Commission in this examination.

b) The Commission has received an extensive response to its letter to the British authorities dated

16 October 2000.

c)

The letter of 16 October gave a deadline of six weeks. In view of the comprehensive and detailed
nature of the questions raised by the Commission(cid:146)s letter which related to events going back over
almost 20 years, the Commission granted an extension of this deadline to the British authorities by
letter dated 5 December 2000.

d) The British authorities submitted an extensive response dated 25 January 2001. This letter is currently

being examined by the Commission as described above.

(2001/C 318 E/038)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0341/01

by Karla Peijs (PPE-DE) and Bartho Pronk (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Imposition of special tax on use of cars with a foreign number plate

(13 February 2001)

Dutch nationals posted to a foreign country who are resident abroad for a relatively long period are hit by
the Netherlands tax inspectorate. If they hire a car abroad in order to visit the Netherlands for the weekend
and, at the end of the weekend, take it back to the foreign country concerned, they are required by the
Netherlands tax authorities to pay in full the amount of the special tax in respect of the rental charge for
the car.

1. Why can a person temporarily posted abroad not hire a car there that does not have a Netherlands
number plate when he/she wishes to travel home?

2.
This special tax on use (a non-harmonised tax) is levied in the Netherlands. Does the Commission
consider it appropriate for the Netherlands to impose this tax in the case of people travelling back to the
Netherlands using cars hired abroad?

Does the Commission consider it appropriate, in cases where the person in question is employed by
3.
the European Central Bank and consequently enjoys the immunity accorded by his/her status as an ECB
official, that the Netherlands should impose the special tax? Does the Commission not regard this as
contrary to the principles of the internal market?

4.

Does this problem also exist in other Member States?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(3 May 2001)

The Commission would inform Honourable Members of the European Parliament that, on the question of
temporary tax-exempt use of a vehicle in a Member State other than that where the vehicle is registered,
the basic criterion laid down in Directive 83/182/EEC (1) is that of the normal residence of the user of the
vehicle, a detailed definition of the term (cid:145)normal residence(cid:146) being given in Article 7 of the Directive and in
relevant ECJ case law. A person(cid:146)s normal residence is the place where he has his personal ties, where his
proprietary interests lie and where he spends most of the year.

The following distinction has to be made:

(cid:129) If the person(cid:146)s normal residence is in Germany, in the city where the Central European Bank has its
headquarters, and if he works there, he may use a wholly tax-exempt car with German plates in any
other Member State, including the Member State of which he is a national (or which is his State of
origin) for a maximum six months a year.

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(cid:129) On the other hand, if he is normally resident in the Member State of which he is a national and/or
which is his State of origin (in which case he will be only temporarily resident in Germany), the
Directive does not allow him to use, even temporarily, a wholly tax-exempt vehicle rented in another
Member State in the Member State where he is normally resident. The Directive is based on the
principle that as a rule, the tax exemption applies in Member States other than that of the user(cid:146)s
normal residence. There are exceptions but the example quoted by the Honourable Member is not
among them.

However, it should be noted that:

(a) Under Article 9 of the Directive Member States may apply more liberal arrangements. They may
authorise prolonged temporary or exceptional use and have discretion regarding the conditions subject
to which tax is charged. Member States often use this option to deal with situations such as the one
described by the Honourable Members. It is probably under this provision that the Netherlands
charges the periodic tax (Motorrijtuigenbelasting) on non-exempt vehicles not covered by the
mandatory provisions of the Directive when such vehicles are used in the Netherlands.

(b) Under a new proposal for a Directive (1), amending the above Directive, the Commission provided for
the possibility of tax-exempt use of a (cid:145)private vehicle registered in another Member State and rented
from a car rental firm under a rental contract which commenced in that Member State by a resident
of the Member State of temporary use, subject to a limit of eight days use(cid:146). The proposal was
forwarded to the Council in February 1998 and Parliament handed down a favourable opinion on
18 June that year but the proposal remains before the Council.

In similar cases in other Member States the Commission has taken the view that practices such as the one
described in point (a) seem to strike a balance between the free movement of vehicles in the European
internal market and the legitimate financial interests of Member States with regard to vehicle taxation.
Here, the Commission departments have contacted the Netherlands authorities to clarify whether, in this
particular case, the tax involved is the Motorrijtuigenbelasting or another tax, and check what it involves.

On the question of what, in practice, is the normal residence of the person to whom this question refers,
for practical reasons this has to be decided by the national authorities in accordance with the provisions of
Article 7 of the Directive and relevant ECJ case law.

the
As to the provisions applicable to officials and other servants of
Commission does not see how the Protocol on the privileges and immunities of
the European
Communities (particularly its Article 12) (cid:129) which also applies to the European Central Bank (2) (cid:129) could
prevent taxation by a Member State other than that of the headquarters of the body concerned of the
private use of an official(cid:146)s vehicle, particularly if the official maintains his normal residence in the Member
State of his nationality or origin.

the European Communities,

(1) Council Directive 83/182/EEC of 28 March 1983 on tax exemptions within the Community for certain means of

transport temporarily imported into one Member State from another (OJ L 105, 23.4.1983, pp. 59-63).

(2) Under Article 23 which was added in Article 9(5) of the Treaty of Amsterdam.

(2001/C 318 E/039)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0350/01

by Raffaele Lombardo (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(13 February 2001)

Subject: Urgent measures to combat BSE

Given the serious nature of the threat to human health at European level posed by BSE and related diseases
and in the light of the frightening Community document of October 1990 containing instructions