2004/161/EC: Council Decision of 10 February 2004 extending the period of application of Decision 2000/185/EC authorising Member States to apply a reduced rate of VAT to certain labour-intensive services in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 28(6) of Directive 77/388/EEC
Date: 2004-02-10
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: VAT, VAT rate, provision of services, tax harmonisation

L 52/62

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

21.2.2004

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COUNCIL

COUNCIL DECISION

of 10 February 2004

extending the period of application of Decision 2000/185/EC authorising Member States to apply a
reduced rate of VAT to certain labour-intensive services in accordance with the procedure
provided for in Article 28(6) of Directive 77/388/EEC

(2004/161/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to 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), and in particular Article
28(6) thereof,

(4)

(5)

The period of application of Decision 2000/185/EC
should also be extended.

In order to ensure that the authorisations referred to by
the said Directive are continuously applied, provision
should be made for the Decision to be applied retro-
actively,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

Pursuant to Council Decision 2000/185/EC (2), Belgium,
Greece, Spain, France,
Italy, Luxembourg, the Nether-
lands, Portugal and the United Kingdom are authorised
to apply, up to 31 December 2003, a reduced rate of
VAT on the labour-intensive services for which they
submitted an application.

On 23 July 2003 the Commission adopted a proposal
for a Directive for a general review of the reduced rates
of VAT. Since the Council did not reach an agreement
system of
before 31 December 2003,
the present
reduced rates of VAT for
labour-intensive services
should be extended for two years.

(3)

The maximum period of application set for this measure
in Directive 77/388/EEC has been extended.

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

2004/15/EC (see page 61 of this Official Journal).

(2) OJ L 59, 4.3.2000, p. 10. Decision as amended by Decision 2002/

954/EC (OJ L 331, 7.12.2002, p. 28).

Article 1

Decision 2000/185/EC is hereby amended as follows:

1.

2.

in the first subparagraph of Article 1,
‘four years running
from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2003’ shall be
replaced by ‘six years running from 1 January 2000 to 31
December 2005’;

in the second subparagraph of Article 3,
2003’ shall be replaced by ‘31 December 2005’.

‘31 December

Article 2

This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of Belgium, the
Hellenic Republic, the Kingdom of Spain, the French Republic,
the Italian Republic, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the
Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Portuguese Republic and the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

21.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 52/63

This Decision shall apply from 1 January 2004.

Article 3

Done at Brussels, 10 February 2004.

For the Council

The President

C. McCREEVY