Decision No 2235/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 December 2002 adopting a Community programme to improve the operation of taxation systems in the internal market (Fiscalis programme 2003-2007)
Date: 2002-12-03
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Subjects: EU programme, action programme, budget, cooperation policy, fiscal policy, single market, tax system

17.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 341/1

I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

DECISION No 2235/2002/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 3 December 2002

adopting a Community programme to improve the operation of taxation systems in the internal
market (Fiscalis programme 2003-2007)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu-
nity, and in particular Article 95 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
251 of the Treaty (3),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

In the internal market, the effective, uniform and effi-
cient application of Community law is essential for the
functioning of taxation systems,
in particular for the
protection of national and Community financial interests
through combating tax evasion and tax avoidance,
avoiding distortions of
competition and reducing
burdens on administrations and taxpayers. Achieving
this effective, uniform and efficient application is a
matter for the Community acting in partnership with
the Member States.

Decision No 888/98/EC of the European Parliament and
the Council of 30 March 1998 establishing a
of
programme of Community action to ameliorate the
indirect taxation systems of the internal market (Fiscalis
programme) (4) has
significantly contributed to the
achievement of those overall objectives for the period
1998 to 2002. It is therefore considered desirable to
continue the Fiscalis programme for another five-year
period.

Efficient, effective and extensive cooperation among the
present and future Member States and between them
and the Commission is important for the functioning of
the taxation systems in the internal market.

(1) OJ C 103 E, 30.4.2002, p. 361.
(2) OJ C 241, 7.10.2002, p. 81.
(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 13 June 2002 (not yet
published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 26
July 2002 (OJ C 228 E, 25.9.2002, p. 34) and Decision of the
European Parliament of 24 October 2002 (not yet published in the
Official Journal).

(4) OJ L 126, 28.4.1998, p. 1.

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

The experience gained by the Community from the
Fiscalis programme has shown that exchanges, seminars
and multilateral control exercises could achieve the
objectives of the programme by bringing officials from
different national administrations together in profes-
sional activities. Those activities should therefore be
continued, but extended to cover taxes on income, on
capital and on insurance premiums.

In particular,

The establishment and functioning of a communication
and information exchange infrastructure has a vital part
to play in reinforcing the taxation systems within the
Community.
the VAT information
exchange system (VIES), referred to in Council Regula-
tion (EEC) No 218/92 of 27 January 1992 on adminis-
taxation
trative cooperation in the field of
indirect
(VAT) (5), has shown the value of
information tech-
nology in protecting revenue whilst minimising adminis-
trative burdens.

In order to ensure uniform application of Community
law, it is essential that officials responsible for taxation
have a high common standard of understanding of
Community law and its implementation in the present
and future Member States. Such a standard can be
achieved only through effective initial and continuing
training provided by the present and future Member
States. Supplementary Community action is useful to
coordinate and foster such training.

The experience gained from the Fiscalis programme has
indicated that the coordinated development and imple-
mentation of a common training programme could
attain the objectives of this programme, in particular by
achieving a higher common standard of understanding
of Community law.

A sufficient standard of linguistic competence on the
part of taxation officials has proved to be essential to
facilitate cooperation. Participating countries
should
therefore provide the necessary language training for
their officials.

(5) OJ L 24, 1.2.1992, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 792/2002 (OJ L 128, 15.5.2002, p. 1).

L 341/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

17.12.2002

(9)

(10)

Although the primary responsibility for achieving these
objectives rests with the participating countries, supple-
mentary Community action is needed for the coordina-
tion of such activities as well as for the provision of an
infrastructure and the necessary stimulus. Since the
objectives of the measures laid down in this Decision
cannot all be sufficiently achieved by the participating
countries and can therefore, by reason of the scale and
the effect of the action, be better achieved at Community
level, the Community may adopt measures in accordance
with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5
of
In accordance with the principle of
proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Decision
does not go beyond what
is necessary in order to
achieve those objectives.

the Treaty.

This Decision lays down, for the entire duration of the
programme, a financial
framework constituting the
prime reference, within the meaning of point 33 of the
Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 between the
European Parliament, the Council and the Commission
on budgetary discipline
the
budgetary procedure (1),
the budgetary authority
during the annual budgetary procedure.

and improvement of

for

(11)

The measures necessary for the implementation of this
Decision should be adopted in accordance with Council
Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down
the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers
conferred on the Commission (2),

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

CHAPTER I

SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES

Article 1

Fiscalis programme

A multiannual Community action programme (Fiscalis
1.
2003-2007), hereinafter referred to as ‘the programme’,
is
hereby established for the period 1 January 2003 to 31
the taxation
December 2007 to improve the operation of
systems in the internal market.

2.

The activities of the programme shall consist of:

(a) communication and information-exchange systems;

(d) exchanges;

(e) training activities;

(f) any other working meetings, visits or similar activities in
the programme's objectives as stated in
the context of
Article 3 which shall be decided on a case-by-case basis in
accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 14(2).

Article 2

Definitions

For the purpose of this Decision:

(a) ‘taxation’ shall mean the following taxes applied in the

participating countries:

(i) value added tax;

(ii) excise duties on alcohol and tobacco products and

mineral oils;

(iii) taxes on income and on capital as defined in Article
1(2) of Council Directive 77/799/EEC of 19 December
1977 concerning mutual assistance by the competent
authorities of the Member States in the field of direct
taxation (3);

(iv) taxes on insurance premiums as defined in Article 3 of
Council Directive 76/308/EEC of 15 March 1976 on
mutual assistance for the recovery of claims relating to
certain levies, duties, taxes and other measures (4);

(b) ‘administration’ shall mean the public authorities in the
participating countries responsible for administering taxa-
tion;

(c) ‘participating countries’ shall mean the Member States and
the countries referred to in Article 4, which effectively
participate in the programme;

(d) ‘official’ shall mean an official of the administration;

(e) ‘exchange’ shall mean a working visit organised under the
programme of an official from an administration in another
participating country;

(f) ‘multilateral control’ shall mean a coordinated control of
the tax liability of one or more related taxable persons,
which is organised by several participating countries and
has a common or complementary interest.

Article 3

Objectives

(b) multilateral controls involving Member States and those
candidate countries which have bilateral or multilateral
agreements either with one another or with Member States
permitting such activity;

The overall objective of

1.
the programme shall be to
improve the proper functioning of the taxation systems in the
internal market by increasing cooperation between partici-
pating countries, their administrations and officials.

(c) seminars;

(1) OJ C 172, 18.6.1999, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

(3) OJ L 336, 27.12.1977, p. 15. Directive as last amended by the

1994 Act of Accession.

(4) OJ L 73, 19.3.1976, p. 18. Directive as last amended by Directive

2001/44/EC (OJ L 175, 28.6.2001, p. 17).

17.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 341/3

2.

The specific objectives of the programme shall be:

(b) the VAT information exchange system (VIES) and its messa-

(a) for value added tax and excise duties:

ging systems;

(i) to enable officials to achieve a high common standard
of understanding of Community law and of its imple-
mentation in Member States;

(c) the excise movement verification system;

(d) the early warning system for excise;

(ii) to secure efficient, effective and extensive cooperation

(e) the excise duty tables system;

among Member States;

(iii) to ensure the continuing improvement of administra-
tion procedures to take account of the needs of admin-
istrations and taxpayers through the development and
dissemination of good administrative practice;

(b) for direct taxation:

to provide support for information exchange in the field of
mutual assistance and to raise awareness of Community
law applicable in the field of direct taxation;

(c) for taxes on insurance premiums:

to improve cooperation between Member States, ensuring
better application of the existing rules;

(d) for the candidate countries:

to meet the special needs of candidate countries so that
they take the necessary measures for accession in the field
of tax legislation and administrative capacity.

The action plan of the programme shall be established
3.
annually in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article
14(2).

Article 4

Participation of candidate countries

The programme shall be open to the participation of:

(a) the associated countries of central and eastern Europe, in
accordance with the conditions laid down in the Europe
Agreements, in the additional protocols thereto and in the
decisions of the respective Association Councils;

(b) Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, on the basis of bilateral agree-

ments on this matter concluded with these countries.

(f) any other new communication and information-exchange
systems designated in accordance with the procedure
referred to in Article 14(2), when Community legislation
requires them to be introduced.

The Community components of the communication and
2.
information-exchange systems shall be the hardware, software
and network connections, which shall be common to all parti-
cipating countries so as to ensure the interconnection and
interoperability of the systems, whether they be installed at the
premises of the Commission (or a designated subcontractor) or
at
the premises of participating countries (or a designated
subcontractor). The Commission shall conclude the necessary
contracts to assure the operational nature of these components
on behalf of the Community.

3.
The non-Community components of the communication
and information-exchange systems shall comprise the national
databases forming part of these systems, the network connec-
tions between the Community and non-Community compo-
nents and such software and hardware as each participating
country shall deem appropriate for the full operation of those
systems throughout its administration. The participating coun-
tries shall ensure that the non-Community components are
kept operational and shall ensure the interoperability of these
components with the Community components.

The Commission shall coordinate,

4.
in cooperation with
the participating countries, those aspects of the establishment
the Community and non-Community
and functioning of
elements of the systems and infrastructure referred to in para-
graph 1.

Article 6

Multilateral controls

CHAPTER II

PROGRAMME ACTIVITIES

Participating countries shall choose, from among the multilat-
eral controls organised by them, those whose costs are to be
borne by the Community in accordance with Article 11. Such
controls shall include at all events control of the tax liability in
respect of value added tax and/or excise duties.

Article 5

The participating countries shall send annual
evaluations concerning such controls to the Commission.

reports and

Communications and information-exchange systems

1.
The Commission and the participating countries shall
ensure that the following communications and information-
exchange systems are operational in so far as their operation is
necessary under Community legislation:

Article 7

Seminars

(a) the common communications network/common systems
interface (CCN/CSI) to the extent necessary to support the
functioning of the other systems referred to in this para-
graph;

The Commission and the participating countries shall together
organise seminars to be attended by officials from the adminis-
trations, Commission representatives and, if appropriate, other
experts.

L 341/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

17.12.2002

Article 8

Exchanges of officials

1.
The Commission and participating countries shall orga-
nise exchanges of officials. The length of exchanges may not
exceed one month. Each exchange shall be targeted on a parti-
cular professional activity and shall be sufficiently prepared and
subsequently evaluated by the officials and administrations
concerned. Provided that it states its reasons for doing so, the
host administration may limit the number of participants in the
exchange if the volume of applications received impedes its
preparation and proper operation.

2.
The participating countries shall take the necessary steps
to enable exchange officials to play an effective part in the host
administration's activities. To this end, such officials shall be
authorised to carry out the tasks relating to the duties entrusted
to them by the host administration in accordance with its legal
system.

3.
During the exchange, the civil liability of the exchange
official in the performance of his duties shall be treated in the
same way as that of officials of
the host administration.
Exchange officials shall be bound by the same rules of profes-
sional secrecy as national officials.

4.
Participating countries may restrict the scope of these
exchanges to officials responsible for value added tax and/or
excise duties.

Article 9

Training activities

1.
In order to encourage structured cooperation between
national training bodies and officials responsible for training in
taxation in administrations, participating countries shall,
in
cooperation with the Commission:

(a) develop existing training programmes and, where neces-
sary, devise new programmes to provide a common core of
training for officials so as to enable them to acquire the
necessary common professional skills and knowledge;

(b) where appropriate, open the training courses in taxation
provided by each participating country for its own officials
to officials from all participating countries;

(c) develop the necessary common tools for taxation training.

2.
Participating countries shall also ensure that their officials
receive the initial and continuing training necessary to acquire
the common professional skills and knowledge in accordance
with the common training programmes and the linguistic
training necessary for those officials to attain a sufficient stan-
dard of linguistic competence.

CHAPTER III

FINANCIAL PROVISIONS

Article 10

Financial framework

framework for

the
The financial
programme for the period 1 January 2003 to 31 December
2007 is hereby set at EUR 44 million. The annual appropria-
tions shall be authorised by the budgetary authority within the
limits of the financial perspective.

the implementation of

Article 11

Expenditure

1.
The expenditure necessary for the implementation of the
programme shall be shared by the Community and the partici-
pating countries in accordance with paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 5.

2.

The Community shall bear the following expenditure:

(a) the cost of the development, purchase, installation, mainte-
nance and day-to-day operation of the Community compo-
nents of
the communications and information-exchange
systems described in Article 5;

(b) the cost of the travel and subsistence expenses relating to
multilateral controls, seminars, exchanges of officials and
training activities;

(c) the cost relating to the organisation of seminars and the

development of training tools;

(d) the cost of evaluation studies to be carried out by third
parties on the impact of the programme, while guaran-
teeing the confidentiality of the data;

(e) the cost of the other activities referred to in Article 1(2)(f).

3.
The Commission shall, in accordance with Council Regu-
lation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the
Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the
European Communities (1), determine the rules relating to the
payment of expenses and shall communicate them to the parti-
cipating countries.

The Commission shall adopt any necessary measures for
4.
the budget management of the programme in accordance with
the procedure referred to in Article 14(2).

The participating countries

5.
expenditure:

shall bear

the following

(a) the cost of the development, purchase, installation, mainte-
nance and day-to-day operation of the non-Community
the communications and information-
components of
exchange systems described in Article 5;

(b) the costs relating to the initial and continuing training,

including linguistic training, of their officials.

(1) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

17.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 341/5

Article 12

Financial control

Community financing decisions
and any agreements or
contracts resulting from this Decision shall be subject to finan-
cial control in accordance with Community law on financial
and budgetary control.

CHAPTER IV

OTHER PROVISIONS

Article 13

Implementation

The measures necessary for the implementation of Article
1(2)(f), Article 3(3), Article 5(1)(f) and Article 11(4) shall
be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in
Article 14(2).

Article 14

Committee procedure

The Commission shall be assisted by a committee to be

1.
known as the ‘Fiscalis Committee’.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and
7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the
provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall be set at three months.

3.

The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

evaluated in terms of the objectives set out in Article 3. Evalua-
tions shall be conducted using the reports referred to in para-
graph 3 as follows:

— the mid-term evaluation shall review the initial results and
impact of the programme's activities. It shall also assess the
use of funding and the progress of follow-up and imple-
mentation,

— the final evaluation shall assess the effectiveness and effi-

ciency of the programme's activities.

3.

The participating countries shall send the Commission:

(a) by 31 March 2005, a mid-term evaluation report on the

programme's effectiveness and efficiency;

(b) by 31 March 2008, a final evaluation report on the

programme's effectiveness and efficiency.

The Commission shall present to the European Parliament

4.
and the Council:

(a) by 30 June 2005, a mid-term evaluation report on the
programme's effectiveness and efficiency and a communica-
tion on the desirability of continuing the programme,
accompanied, where relevant, by a suitable proposal;

(b) by 30 June 2008, a final evaluation report on the program-

me's effectiveness and efficiency.

The reports referred to in (a) and (b) shall also be sent to the
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions for their information.

5.
The evaluation reports referred to in paragraph 4 shall be
based mainly on the reports referred to in paragraph 3, and on
the follow-up reports referred to in paragraph 1.

Article 16

Entry into force

Article 15

This Decision shall enter into force on the day of its publication
in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Follow-up and evaluation

It shall apply from 1 January 2003.

1.
Each year the Commission shall submit to the Committee
referred to in Article 14(1) a follow-up report setting out the
progress of all the programme's activities in terms of imple-
mentation and results in relation to the annual action plan. This
report shall also be forwarded to the European Parliament.

The administrations shall send the Commission all the informa-
tion necessary for follow-up reports to be drawn up as effi-
ciently as possible.

Article 17

Addressees

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 3 December 2002.

2. Mid-term and final evaluations of the programme shall be
carried out under the Commission's responsibility using the
follow-up reports and the reports drawn up by the participating
countries. The programme's effectiveness and efficiency shall be

For the European Parliament

For the Council

The President

P. COX

The President

T. PEDERSEN