2001/741/EC: Council Decision of 16 October 2001 authorising the Federal Republic of Germany to conclude with the Republic of Poland an agreement containing measures derogating from Articles 2 and 3 of the Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes
Date: 2001-10-16
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Germany, Poland, VAT, derogation from EU law, engineering structure, tax harmonisation

L 278/28

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

23.10.2001

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COUNCIL

COUNCIL DECISION

of 16 October 2001

authorising the Federal Republic of Germany to conclude with the Republic of Poland an agree-
ment containing measures derogating from Articles 2 and 3 of the Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC on
the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes

(2001/741/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), hereafter referred to
as the ‘Sixth VAT Directive’, and in particular Article 30
thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

the Sixth VAT Directive,

Under Article 30 of
the
Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the
Commission, may authorise any Member State to
conclude with a non-member country or an inter-
national organisation an agreement which may contain
derogations from the said Directive.

the
By letter registered by the Secretariat-General of
Commission on 16 October 2000, the German Govern-
ment requested authorisation to conclude an agreement
with the Republic of Poland relating to the construction
and maintenance of border bridges between the
Contracting States in question.

The agreement contains provisions in the field of value
added taxation which derogate from Articles 2 and 3 of
the Sixth VAT Directive as regards, on the one hand, the
supplies of goods and services in connection with the
construction and maintenance of border bridges, and on
the other hand, the importation of goods used for the
construction work or the maintenance of these bridges.

(4)

The other Member States were informed on 7 February
2001 of Germany's request.

(5)

(6)

(7)

In the absence of derogations,
the construction and
maintenance work carried out on German territory
would be subject to value added tax in Germany while
that carried out on Polish territory would lie outside the
In addition, each
scope of
importation from the Republic of Poland into Germany
of goods used for the construction and the maintenance
of the border bridges would be subject to value added
tax in Germany.

the Sixth VAT Directive.

The purpose of these derogations is to simplify the rules
of taxation for the contractors carrying out the work in
question.

The derogations will have only a negligible effect on the
own resources of the European Communities accruing
from value added tax,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The Federal Republic of Germany is hereby authorised to
conclude an agreement with the Republic of Poland containing
measures derogating from the Sixth VAT Directive. This agree-
ment initially concerns the construction and subsequent main-
tenance of five border bridges crossing the Neiße and one
border bridge crossing the Torfkanal and the ongoing mainte-
nance of two existing border bridges crossing the Neiße, all of
which are partly on the territory of Germany and partly on the
territory of Poland. The details of the bridges in question are
listed in the Annex to this Decision. The scope of the agree-
ment may be extended by the contracting parties to additional
bridges through an exchange of diplomatic notes, provided the
effects of the agreement on the own resources of the European
Communities accruing from value added tax remain slight.

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

2001/4/EC (OJ L 22, 24.1.2001, p. 17).

The tax derogations provided for by this agreement are set out
in Articles 2, 3 and 4 of this Decision.

23.10.2001

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 278/29

Article 2

goods or services intended for their construction or mainte-
nance.

By way of derogation from Article 3 of
the Sixth VAT
Directive, with regard to the bridges for the construction and
maintenance of which Germany is responsible and with regard
to the bridges for which Germany is responsible solely for
maintenance, in so far as these bridges are in Polish territory,
and, where appropriate, construction sites, shall be treated as
forming part of the territory of Germany, as regards supplies of
goods or services intended for their construction or mainte-
nance.

Article 4

By way of derogation from Article 2(2) of the Sixth VAT
Directive, the importation of goods into Germany from Poland
shall not be subject to value added tax in so far as those goods
are used for the construction and the maintenance of border
bridges. However, this derogation shall not apply to any goods
imported for the same purpose by a public authority.

Article 5

Article 3

This Decision is addressed to the Federal Republic of Germany.

By way of derogation from Article 3 of
the Sixth VAT
Directive, with regard to the bridges for the construction and
maintenance of which Poland is responsible and with regard to
the bridges for which Poland is responsible solely for mainte-
nance, in so far as these bridges are in German territory, and,
where appropriate, construction sites, shall be treated as
forming part of the territory of Poland, as regards supplies of

Done at Luxembourg, 16 October 2001.

For the Council

The President

D. REYNDERS

ANNEX

Bridges referred to in Article 1:

1. Germany shall be responsible for building the following border bridges:

(a) the bridge over the Neiße between Hagenwerder and Radomierzyce at marker 167 + 230;

(b) the bridge over the Neiße between Görlitz and Zgorzelec at marker 151 + 670;

(c) the bridge over the Torfkanal between Garz and Swinoujscie.

2. Poland shall be responsible for building the following border bridges:

(a) the bridge over the Neiße between Forst and Zasieki at marker 47 + 500;

(b) the bridge over the Neiße between Krauschwitz and Leknica at marker 81 + 970;

(c) the bridge over the Neiße between Deschka and Piensk at marker 134 + 930.

3. Germany shall be responsible for maintaining the following border bridge:

(a) the bridge over the Neiße between Podrosche and Przewoz at marker 100 + 850.

4. Poland shall be responsible for maintaining the following border bridge:

(a) the bridge over the Neiße between Ostritz and Krzewina Zgorzelecka at marker 176 + 090.