2001/742/EC: Council Decision of 16 October 2001 authorising the Federal Republic of Germany to conclude with the Czech Republic 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: Czechia, Germany, VAT, derogation from EU law, engineering structure, tax harmonisation

L 278/30

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

23.10.2001

COUNCIL DECISION

of 16 October 2001

authorising the Federal Republic of Germany to conclude with the Czech Republic 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

(2001/742/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) (hereinafter referred
to as the ‘Sixth VAT Directive’), and in particular Article 30
thereof,

construction and the maintenance of the frontier bridge
would be subject to VAT in Germany.

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,

(6)

(7)

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

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 Secretariat-General of

By letter registered at
the
Commission on 18 October 2000, the German Govern-
ment requested authorisation to conclude an agreement
with the Czech Republic relating to the construction of a
frontier bridge between the States in question.

The agreement contains provisions in the field of value
added tax (VAT) 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, repair and renewal of
the frontier
bridge and, on the other hand,
importation of goods
used for the construction work or the maintenance of
this bridge.

The other Member States were informed of the German
request on 2 February 2001.

In the absence of derogations, the construction, repair
and renewal work carried out on German territory
would be subject to VAT in Germany while that carried
out on Czech territory would lie outside the scope of the
Sixth VAT Directive. Further, each importation from the
Czech Republic into Germany of goods used for the

(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).

Article 1

The Federal Republic of Germany is hereby authorised to
conclude an agreement, containing measures derogating from
the Sixth VAT Directive, with the Czech Republic concerning
the construction of a frontier bridge at Furth im Wald-Schaf-
berg/Folmava/Vollmau, which is partly on the territory of the
Federal Republic of Germany and partly on the territory of the
Czech Republic, linking the German Federal B20 road heading
east with the Czech national I/26 road heading west.

The tax derogations provided for by the agreement are set out
in Articles 2 and 3.

Article 2

the Sixth VAT
By way of derogation from Article 3 of
Directive, insofar as it extends on to the territory of the Federal
Republic of Germany, the area of the construction site for the
frontier bridge referred to in Article 1 of this Decision and,
after its completion, the frontier bridge itself, shall be treated as
forming part of the territory of the Czech Republic as regards
supplies of goods or services intended for the construction of
the frontier bridge or for its repair and renewal.

Article 3

By way of derogation from Article 2(2) of the Sixth VAT
Directive, the importation of goods into Germany from the
Czech Republic shall not be subject to VAT insofar as those
goods are used for the construction or maintenance of the
bridge referred to in Article 1 of this Decision. However, this
derogation shall not apply to any goods imported for the same
purpose by a public authority.

23.10.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 278/31

This Decision is addressed to the Federal Republic of Germany.

Article 4

Done at Luxembourg, 16 October 2001.

For the Council

The President

D. REYNDERS