European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation providing for measures equivalent to those laid down in Council Directive 2003/48/EC of 3 June 2003 on taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments and the accompanying Memorandum of Understanding (COM(2004) 75 — C5-0103/2004 — 2004/0027(CNS))
Date: 2004-03-30
Institutions: Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Switzerland, agreement (EU), interest, savings, tax on income, tax system

29.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 103 E/149

Tuesday 30 March 2004

P5_TA(2004)0200

Temporary tax reductions for energy *

European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council directive amending Direc-
tive 2003/96/EC as regards the possibility for certain Member States to apply, in respect of energy
taxation
products and electricity,

temporary exemptions or

in the levels of

reductions

(COM(2004) 42 (cid:1) C5-0090/2004 (cid:1) 2004/0016(CNS))

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

(cid:1) having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council (COM(2004) 42) (1),

(cid:1) having regard to Article 93 of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament

(C5-0090/2004),

(cid:1) having regard to Rule 67 of its Rules of Procedure,

(cid:1) having regard to its opinion of 24 September 2003 on the draft Council directive on restructuring the

Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity (2),

(cid:1) having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (A5-0158/2004),

1.

2.

Approves the Commission proposal;

Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

Asks the Council to consult Parliament again if it intends to amend the Commission proposal sub-

3.
stantially;

4.

Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.

(1) Not yet published in the OJ.
(2) P5_TA(2003)0404.

P5_TA(2004)0201

EC-Swiss agreement on taxation of savings *

European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclu-
sion of the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation providing
for measures equivalent to those laid down in Council Directive 2003/48/EC of 3 June 2003 on
taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments and the accompanying Memorandum
of Understanding (COM(2004) 75 (cid:1) C5-0103/2004 (cid:1) 2004/0027(CNS))

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

(cid:1) having regard to the proposal for a Council decision (COM(2004) 75) (1),

(cid:1) having regard to the draft agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation
providing for measures equivalent to those laid down in Council Directive 2003/48/EC of 3 June
2003 on taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments and the accompanying Mem-
orandum of Understanding,

(1) Not yet published in the OJ.

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Tuesday 30 March 2004

(cid:1) having regard to Articles 94 and 300(2), first subparagraph, of the EC Treaty,

(cid:1) having regard to Article 300(3), first subparagraph, of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Council

consulted Parliament (C5-0103/2004),

(cid:1) having regard to Rules 67 and 97(7) of its Rules of Procedure,

(cid:1) having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (A5-0169/2004),

Approves the proposal for a Council decision as amended and approves the conclusion of the agree-

1.
ment;

Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission, and the governments

2.
and parliaments of the Member States and the Swiss Confederation.

TEXT PROPOSED
BY THE COMMISSION

AMENDMENTS
BY PARLIAMENT

Amendment 1
Recital 4a (new)

(4a) The ultimate aim is to enable savings income in the
form of interest payments made in one Member State to
beneficial owners, individuals, resident in another Member
State to be made subject to effective taxation which is needed
to fight against harmful tax competition and to contribute
towards improving the functioning of the single market by
removing artificial incentives to the flow of capital in the
EU and beyond.

Amendment 2
Recital 4b (new)

(4b) The equitable and effective tax treatment of savings in
Europe necessarily implies that Member States should have
the right to tax the EU-wide income of their residents accord-
ing to their own domestic tax rules and tax scales.

Amendment 3
Recital 4c (new)

(4c) The best method of taxing savings effectively is for
information to be exchanged automatically between tax auth-
orities.

Amendment 4
Recital 4d (new)

(4d) Switzerland, like some Member States, has opted for a
withholding tax at source, in connection with Directive 2003/
48/EC, and will introduce such a tax on funds from European
Union residents, 75 % of the revenue generated by the tax
being transferred to the Member State of residence of the
beneficial owner.

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C 103 E/151

TEXT PROPOSED
BY THE COMMISSION

Tuesday 30 March 2004

AMENDMENTS
BY PARLIAMENT

Amendment 5
Recital 4e (new)

(4e) Nevertheless, consideration needs to be given to the
needs of the banking sectors of some Member States and
their structural differences by allowing them to have a tran-
sitional period during which they will levy a withholding tax,
at a rate
full
information exchange is achieved this will ensure a minimum
level of effective taxation; the greater part of this revenue
should be transferred to the Member State of residence of
the beneficial owner of the interest.

increasing progressively to 35 %; until

Amendment 6
Recital 4f (new)

In order to prevent the flight of capital from the Euro-
(4f)
pean Union, the application of this agreement is conditional
upon the adoption and implementation by the dependent or
associated territories of the Member States mentioned in the
Feira European Council Decision of 19 and 20 June 2000, as
well as the United States of America, Andorra, Liechtenstein,
Monaco and San Marino, respectively, of measures which
conform with or are equivalent to those contained in Direc-
tive 2003/48/EC or in the present agreement on the taxation
of savings income in the form of interest payments.

Amendment 7
Recital 4g (new)

(4g) The conclusion of an agreement with Switzerland
should not be linked to ongoing negotiations with other
parties.

Amendment 8
Recital 4h (new)

(4h)
It is imperative that negotiations with the above-men-
tioned third countries be concluded in a timely manner; no
further counter-requests from these countries should be
accepted; agreements with these countries should include the
same fundamental elements as those in the agreement with
Switzerland.

Amendment 9
Recital 4i (new)

(4i) The same measures will be applied in all relevant
dependent or associated territories (the Channel Islands, Isle
of Man and the dependent or associated territories in the
Caribbean).