Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 77/799/EEC concerning mutual assistance by the competent authorities of the Member States in the field of direct and indirect taxation
Date: 2001-06-18
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: VAT, administrative cooperation, direct tax, exchange of information, mutual recognition principle, single market, standing committee (EU), tax evasion, tax harmonisation

C 270 E/96

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

25.9.2001

Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council
Directive 77/799/EEC concerning mutual assistance by the competent authorities of the Member
States in the field of direct and indirect taxation

(2001/C 270 E/11)

COM(2001) 294 final (cid:151) 2001/0134(COD)

(Presented by the Commission on 18 June 2001)

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,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

1. The title is replaced by the following:

(cid:145)Council Directive of 19 December 1977 concerning mutual
assistance by the competent authorities of
the Member
States in the field of direct taxation, certain excise duties
and taxation of insurance premiums(cid:146).

Having regard to the opinion of
Committee,

the Economic and Social

2. In Article 1(1), the first indent is replaced by the following:

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article
251 of the Treaty,

Whereas:

(1) In order to combat value added tax (VAT) evasion it is
necessary to strengthen cooperation between tax adminis-
trations within the Community and between the latter and
the Commission in accordance with common principles.

(2) To that end, Council Regulation (EEC) No 218/92 (1), which
supplemented, as regards VAT, the system of cooperation
established by Council Directive 77/799/EEC (2), as last
amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and
Sweden, has been replaced by Regulation (EC) No . . ./2001
of the European Parliament and of the Council of . . . 2001
on administrative cooperation in the field of value added
tax. The latter Regulation sets out all the provisions relating
to administrative cooperation in the field of VAT, with the
exception of mutual assistance as provided for by Council
Directive 76/308/EEC of 15 March 1976 on mutual
assistance for the recovery of claims relating to certain
last
levies, duties,
amended by Directive 2001/. . ./EC.

and other measures (3),

taxes

as

(3) The scope of mutual assistance laid down by Directive
77/799/EEC must be
the
insurance premiums referred to in Directive 76/308/EEC
the
so as
Member States and the neutrality of the internal market.

extended to taxation of

to better protect

the financial

interests of

(cid:145)taxation of insurance premiums referred to in the fourth
indent of Article 3 of Council Directive 76/308/EEC (*).

___________
(*) OJ L 73, 19.3.1976, p. 18.(cid:146)

Article 2

References made to Directive 77/799/EEC in relation to value
added tax (VAT) shall be construed as references to Regulation
(EC) No . . ./2001 (on administrative cooperation in the field of
value added tax).

Article 3

1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations
and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this
Directive by 31 December 2002 at
the latest. They shall
forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain
a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a
reference on the occasion of
their official publication.
Member States shall determine how such reference is to be
made.

2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the
text of the provisions of national law which they adopt in the
field covered by this Directive.

Article 4

(4) Directive 77/799/EEC should therefore be

amended

accordingly,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

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

Article 1

Article 5

Directive 77/799/EEC is amended as follows:

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

(1) OJ L 24, 1.2.1992, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 336, 27.12.1977, p. 15.
(3) OJ L 73, 19.3.1976, p. 18.