Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1798/2003 to combat tax evasion connected with intra Community transactions
Date: 2008-03-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: VAT, administrative formalities, domestic market, fraud, intra-EU trade, tax evasion

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 17.3.2008 
COM(2008) 147 final 

2008/0058 (CNS) 
2008/0059 (CNS) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 

amending Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax to combat 
tax evasion connected with intra-Community transactions 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL REGULATION 

amending Regulation (EC) No 1798/2003 to combat tax evasion connected with 
intra-Community transactions 

(presented by the Commission) 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1) 

110 

BACKGROUND 

•  Grounds for and objectives of the proposal 

The  system  for  the  exchange  of  information  on  intra-Community  supplies  of  goods 
established under the transitional VAT arrangements adopted when the single market 
was introduced is no longer sufficient to combat effectively tax evasion connected with 
intra-Community  transactions.  The  Council,  in  its  conclusions  of  5 June 2007, 
therefore asked the Commission to submit a proposal aimed at reducing to one month 
both  the  reference  period  for  the  collection  of  information  on  intra-Community 
transactions and the maximum period for the transmission of that information between 
Member States. 

120 

•  General context 

Tax evasion represents a very considerable loss of revenue for the Member States and 
distorts  the  operation  of  the  internal  market.  This  form  of  fraud  is  often  organised 
transnationally.  In  May  2006  the  Commission  therefore  adopted  a  communication 
concerning  the  need  to  develop  a  coordinated  strategy  to  combat  tax  evasion  more 
effectively.  With  regard  to  VAT  evasion,  and  in  particular  intra-Community  carousel 
fraud,  the  communication  sets  out  conventional  measures  aimed  at  strengthening  the 
VAT system without altering its principles and more ambitious measures affecting the 
very principles of VAT collection. 

Subsequent discussions within the Council showed that the more ambitious measures 
could  not  be  implemented  in  the  short  term.  The  Council  therefore  asked  the 
Commission,  inter  alia  in  its  conclusions  of  5 June 2007,  to  introduce  a  number  of 
conventional  measures  after  they  had  been  discussed  in  the  Anti-Tax  Fraud  Strategy 
(ATFS)  expert  group.  The  measures  to  be  taken  to  strengthen  the  intra-Community 
VAT  system  are  numerous  and  complementary.  Of  the  measures  discussed  by  the 
ATFS  expert  group,  the  Council  highlighted  four  to  be  implemented  as  soon  as 
possible, some of which require amendments to existing legislation. 

This proposal concerns two of those measures, namely the reduction to one month of 
both  the  frequency  of  recapitulative  statements  of  intra-Community  transactions  and 
the deadline for the exchange of information between tax administrations. 

In  its  conclusions  of  4 December  the  Council  called  on  the  Commission  to  continue 
discussions in the expert group on the other conventional measures; these discussions 
might therefore lead to other legislative proposals. 

It should be noted that the European Court of Auditors, in its Special Report No 8/2007 
concerning administrative cooperation in the field of value added tax, made a number 
of  recommendations  in  respect  of  the  exchange  of  information  on  intra-Community 
transactions.  In  paragraph 108  of  the  report,  it  recommended,  on  the  one  hand, 
radically shortening the deadlines for collecting and transmitting data and, on the other, 
enhancing the possibilities for cross-checks.  

130 

•  Existing provisions in the area of the proposal 

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The  proposed  measure  is  aimed  solely  at speeding up the collection and exchange of 
information  on  intra-Community  transactions.  The  provisions  in  force  are  set  out  in 
Chapters 5 and 6 of Title XI of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 
and  in  Chapter V  of  Regulation  (EC)  No 1798/2003  of  7 October 2003.  Under  the 
current provisions, data are collected from businesses with the following frequency: the 
recapitulative statements containing information on intra-Community supplies of goods 
are  submitted  by  traders  quarterly,  in  some  cases  monthly.  From  1  January 2010  the 
recapitulative  statements  will  also  include  information  on  supplies  of  services  in  the 
Member State of the customer for which the customer is liable for payment of VAT. 
Information on intra-Community acquisitions of goods in the Member State of arrival 
is collected by means of VAT returns, which are submitted on a monthly, two-monthly, 
quarterly, six-monthly or annual basis.  

At  present,  the  interval  between  the  time  at  which  a  transaction  takes  place  and  the 
time at which the information is made available to the Member State of the purchaser 
ranges from three to six months. The proposal would reduce this interval to one or two 
months.  

Directive 2006/112/EC  already  gives  Member  States  the  option  of  collecting 
recapitulative  statements  on  a  monthly  basis.  Since,  however,  this  option  does  not 
directly benefit the Member State collecting the information, only four Member States 
collect monthly statements from a significant number of taxable persons. 

140 

•  Consistency with the other policies and objectives of the Union 

Combating  tax  evasion  is  part  of  the  Lisbon  Strategy.  In  its  communication  of 
25 October 2005  on  the  contribution  of  taxation  and  customs  policies  to  the  Lisbon 
strategy, the Commission stressed that tax fraud creates a significant distortion in the 
functioning  of  the  internal  market,  prevents  fair  competition  and  erodes  revenue  that 
should be used to fund public services at national level. Increased levels of fraud result 
in  an  increasing  tax  burden  on  businesses  that  comply  with  tax  rules  as  governments 
are forced to make up the resulting shortfall in revenue. 

The  proposal  also  contains  a  significant  simplification  for  businesses  by  obliging  the 
Member States to allow recapitulative statements and VAT returns to be submitted by 
electronic file transfer.  

2) 

CONSULTATION OF INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT 

•  Consultation of interested parties 

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Consultation methods, main sectors targeted and general profile of respondents 

The measure was one of a series of conventional measures discussed at the conference 
on  tackling  VAT  fraud  organised  by  the  Commission  in  Brussels  on  29 March 2007. 
This event was attended by representatives of large companies, trade associations, tax 
professionals and representatives of the Member States. 

The  measure  was  discussed  with  a  number  of  large  companies  operating  in  most 
Member States and subject to a great diversity of compliance obligations across these 
different jurisdictions.  

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The measure was presented to organisations representing SMEs at the meeting held by 
the EU's SME Envoy in Brussels on 28 November 2007. 

It  has  also  been  examined  with  the  Member  States  in  the  Anti-Tax  Fraud  Strategy 
(ATFS) expert group. 

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Summary of responses and how they have been taken into account 

Although  they  had  doubts  about  the  tax  administrations'  capacity  to  make  use  of  the 
information  submitted, most of  the businesses  consulted acknowledge that the switch 
to  monthly  statements  is  no  great  burden  for  them.  Accordingly,  most  of  them  are 
prepared to accept the measure if it is part of a comprehensive strategy of enhancing 
the  efficiency  of  the  tax  administrations  that  would  include  advantages  and  cost 
reductions  for  businesses  that  comply  with  their  tax  obligations  in  a  proper  and 
satisfactory  manner.  The  SME  representatives  confirmed  that  the  measure  would  not 
affect the great majority of SMEs. 

The  measure  is  part  of  a  series  of  measures  some  of  which  are  expressly  aimed  at 
offering businesses greater legal certainty and reducing their administrative burden as 
well as significantly improving the exchange of information and cooperation between 
tax administrations.  

•  Collection and use of expertise 

Scientific areas and areas of expertise concerned 

Economic assessment of the costs for businesses, including SMEs. 

Methodology used 

Standard cost method. 

Main organisations/experts consulted 

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Price  Waterhouse  Coopers  carried  out  a  study  for  the  Commission  by  sending  a 
questionnaire to fourteen businesses (seven multinationals and seven SMEs) based in 
four different Member States. 

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Summary of opinions received and used 

There was no mention of potentially serious risks with irreversible consequences. 

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The finding  of the  economic assessment is that the measure's cost  will  be very  small 
for  the  great  majority  of  businesses  concerned.  However,  in  some  cases,  for  instance 
that  of  businesses  registered  for  VAT  in  many  Member  States,  the  cost  can  be 
significant.  The  study  also  shows  that  this  cost  can  be  reduced  by  harmonising  the 
information  to  be  submitted  and  simplifying  the  way  in  which  it  is  submitted.  The 
study also shows that, where the planned cost is significant for SMEs, the arrangements 
for submitting information are a major factor in the calculation of this cost.  

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Means used to make the expert advice publicly available 

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Publication  on  the  Internet  site  of  the  Directorate-General  for  Taxation  and  Customs 
Union. 

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•  Impact assessment 

The  planned  measure  has  not  been  subjected  to  a  complete  impact  assessment. 
However,  it  has  been  discussed  in  detail  by  the  ATFS  expert  group,  subjected  to  an 
economic assessment and discussed with the main stakeholders.  

The  experts  emphasised  how  important  it  was  for  the  tax  administrations  to  obtain 
information  on  intra-Community  trade  faster  if  they  were  to  be  able  to  combat  VAT 
evasion more effectively.  

The  planned  measure  is  balanced  since  it  enables  information  to  be  made  available 
three months sooner on average while imposing a minimal burden on businesses. The 
measure  concerns  a  limited  number  of  businesses  (4%  of  businesses  registered  for 
VAT  in  the  Community),  and  the  study  has  shown  that  the  additional  cost  for 
businesses will be very small, save where the procedures for submitting recapitulative 
statements  are  unusually  complicated.  The  proposal  contains  a  provision  expressly 
aimed at simplifying these procedures. 

3) 

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LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL 

•  Summary of the proposed action 

The proposal is aimed primarily at harmonising and reducing to one month the period 
for declaring intra-Community transactions in the recapitulative statements referred to 
in Title XI, Chapter 6, of Council Directive 2006/112/EC. 

The proposal is also aimed at reducing from three months to one month the period for 
transmission of this information between Member States.  

To  obtain  the  information  needed  to  combat  tax  evasion,  it  also  proposed  that 
information  be  collected  monthly  on  intra-Community  acquisitions  of  goods  and 
purchases  of  services  from  a  supplier  established  in  another  Member  State  for  which 
the customer is liable for VAT. To do this, purchasers or customers carrying out such 
transactions for an amount higher than EUR 200 000 per calendar year will be obliged 
to submit their VAT returns monthly. This threshold has been calculated so as to avoid 
imposing further obligations on businesses making intra-Community acquisitions on an 
occasional  basis  or  for  small  amounts  while  covering  amounts  significant  for  fraud. 
The  proposal  also  provides  for  the  amounts  relating  to  the  services  concerned  to  be 
entered separately in the return for the cross-checking purposes. 

The proposal contains provisions aimed at harmonising the rules for charging VAT on 
services  in  order  to  make  sure  that  transactions  are  declared  by  the  vendor  and  the 
purchaser during the same period. This provision will enable the information submitted 
to be cross-checked efficiently.  

Lastly,  the  proposal  includes  a  provision  aimed  at  simplifying  the  procedures  for 
submitting  recapitulative  statements  in  Member  States  where  these  procedures  are 
unusually complex in order to reduce the burden that such submission can represent for 

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businesses. 

•  Legal basis 

Article 93 of the EC Treaty 

•  Subsidiarity principle 

The  proposal  falls  under  shared  Community  and  Member  State  competence.  It  is, 
however,  in  accordance  with  the  principle  of  subsidiarity  since  its  objectives  can  be 
adequately achieved only by the adoption of a Community measure. 

In  this  instance,  Council  Directive  2006/112/EC  and  Council  Regulation  (EC) 
No 1798/2003  already  lay  down  common  rules  on  the  collection  and  exchange  of 
information  on  intra-Community  transactions.  The  Member  States  cannot  adopt 
national legislation that is contrary to Community law. The harmonised provisions in 
force therefore have to be amended by an act adopted by the Community. Furthermore, 
measures 
tax  evasion  connected  with 
intra-Community transactions to be combated more effectively. 

taken  at  Community 

level  enable 

•  Proportionality principle 

The proposal complies with the proportionality principle for the following reasons. 

During  the  discussions  concerning  the  strategy  to  be  adopted  to  combat  tax  evasion 
connected  with  intra-Community  transactions,  a  number  of  options  were  considered 
which radically altered the system of VAT collection and liability. It was agreed that 
these  measures  could  not  be  introduced  in  the  short  term  owing  to  the  changes  they 
would impose on traders. This is why the amendments to the VAT Directive are minor. 
The  additional  obligations  are  divided  fairly  between  taxable  persons  and  tax 
administrations.  

The  measure  has  been  targeted  so  that  it  affects  just  a  small  number  of  businesses. 
Only 4% of businesses liable for VAT submit recapitulative statements and 9% engage 
in  intra-Community  acquisitions  of  goods.  Thanks  to  the  high  threshold  for 
acquisitions,  the  measure  will  affect  only  a  small  proportion  of  the  latter.  Moreover, 
60% of the quarterly recapitulative statements lodged by businesses contain just one or 
two lines of information, so the additional burden for these businesses, which include 
the  majority  of  SMEs,  will  be  minimal.  The  measure  does  not  change  the  form  or 
content of the recapitulative statements either; it simply changes the frequency. In the 
matter  of  VAT  returns,  only  one  obligation  is  added:  a  reporting  obligation  already 
applicable to goods is extended to services.  

•  Choice of instruments 

Proposed instrument(s): Regulation, Directive. 

Other instruments would not have been appropriate for the following reasons. 

The Regulation and the Directive are the only means of amending the rules in force. 

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4) 

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BUDGETARY IMPLICATION 

The proposal has no implication for the Community budget. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

•  Simplification 

The proposal introduces simplified administrative procedures applicable to entities and 
private individuals. 

The  economic  assessment  carried  out  showed  that  lodging  recapitulative  statements 
was  particularly  burdensome  for  businesses  when  the  procedure  involved  manually 
entering data on an electronic form.  

By  obliging  the  Member  States  to  accept  recapitulative  statements  by  electronic  file 
transfer,  the  proposal  in  certain  cases  relieves  taxable  persons  of  complex  data-entry 
obligations.  

•  Correlation table 

The  Member  States  are  required  to  communicate  to  the  Commission  the  text  of 
national  provisions  transposing  the  Directive  as  well  as  a  correlation  table  between 
those provisions and this Directive. 

•  Detailed explanation of the proposal by chapter or by article 

Measures contained in the Directive 

The  amendment  of  Articles  64  and  66  of  the  Directive  and  the  introduction  of  an 
Article 65a are aimed at ensuring uniform rules for charging VAT in the Community 
so that service providers do not have to comply with charging rules that vary according 
to  their  customer's  place  of  establishment  in  order  to  be  able  to  declare  these 
transactions.  This  amendment  is  crucial  if  the  information  in  the  recapitulative 
statements  to  be  lodged  by  the  service  providers  is  to  be  cross-checked  with  the 
information in the VAT returns to be lodged by the customers for these services.  

The  amendment  of  Article 250(2)  of  the  Directive  is  aimed  at  simplifying  the 
procedures for lodging VAT returns.  

The  amendment  of  Article 251  of  the  Directive is  aimed at ensuring that  information 
on  intra-Community  acquisitions  of  services  is  collected  in  all  Member  States  for 
cross-checking with the information in the recapitulative statements. 

The amendment of Article 252 of the Directive is aimed at synchronising the frequency 
of  information  on  acquisitions  with  that  on  sales.  A  threshold  has,  however,  been 
introduced  to  target  only  amounts  of  significance  in  terms  of  fraud  and  to  avoid 
imposing new obligations on a large number of taxable persons. 

The  amendment  of  Articles  263  to  265  of  the  Directive  is  aimed  at  ensuring  the 
monthly collection of recapitulative statements. 

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The  amendment  of  Article 263(2)  of  the  Directive  is  aimed  at  simplifying  the 
procedures for lodging recapitulative statements. 

Measures contained in the Regulation 

The amendment of Articles 23 and 24 of the Regulation is aimed at aligning it on the 
Directive.  

The amendment of Article 25 of the Regulation is aimed at speeding up the exchange 
of information between the Member States. 

F-11066 

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2008/0058 (CNS) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 

amending Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax to combat 
tax evasion connected with intra-Community transactions 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community,  and  in  particular 
Article 93 thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission1, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament2, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee3, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

1 
2 
3 
4 

The evasion of value added tax (VAT) has a significant impact on the Member States' 
tax revenue and distorts economic activity in the single market by creating unjustified 
flows of goods and by placing goods on the market at abnormally low prices. 

The  shortcomings  of  the  intra-Community  VAT  arrangements,  and  in  particular  the 
system for the exchange of information on supplies of goods within the Community, 
as laid down by Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common 
system of value added tax4, are one of the causes of this tax evasion. In particular, the 
time that elapses between a transaction and the corresponding exchange of information 
under the VAT information exchange system is an obstacle to the effective use of that 
information to tackle fraud. 

In order to combat VAT evasion effectively, it is necessary for the administration of 
the  Member  State  in  which  the  VAT  is  chargeable  to  receive  information  on  the 
intra-Community transactions as soon as possible 

In  order  for  the  cross-checking  of  information  to  be  useful  for  combating  fraud, 
intra-Community transactions should be declared for the same tax period by both the 
supplier and the purchaser or customer. 

OJ C […], […], p.[…].  
OJ C […], […], p.[…].  
OJ C […], […], p.[…].  
OJ  L  347,  11.12.2006,  p.  1.  Directive  as  last  amended  by  Directive  2008/8/EC  (OJ  L 44,  20.2.2008, 
p. 11). 

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(5) 

(6) 

(7) 

To enable the tax administrations to make good use of the information collected, the 
information  on  intra-Community  transactions  for which the purchaser or customer is 
liable for VAT should be collected at the same frequency as information on supplies of 
goods and services. 

In  view  of  changes  in  the  business  environment  and  tools,  businesses  should  be 
guaranteed the possibility of meeting their obligations with regard to declarations by 
simple  electronic  procedures  in  order  to  reduce  the  administrative  burden  to  a 
minimum. 

Since  the  objectives  of  the  proposed  action  to  tackle  VAT  evasion  cannot  be 
sufficiently  achieved  by  the  Member  States,  whose  action  in  the  matter  depends  on 
information collected by the other Member States, and can therefore, by reason of the 
need  to  involve  all  Member  States,  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 the Treaty. In accordance  with  the  principle  of  proportionality,  as 
set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to 
achieve those objectives. 

(8) 

Directive 2006/112/EC should therefore be amended accordingly, 

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: 

Article 1 

Directive 2006/112/EC is amended as follows: 

(1) 

Article 64(2) is replaced by the following: 

"2.  Supplies  of  services  for  which  VAT  is  payable  by  the  customer  pursuant  to 
Article 196, which are supplied continuously over a period of more than one year and 
which do not give rise to statements of account or payments during that period shall 
be regarded as being completed on expiry of each calendar year until such time as the 
supply of services comes to an end. 

Member States may provide that, in certain cases other than those referred to in the 
previous paragraph, the continuous supply of goods or services over a period of time 
is to be regarded as being completed at least at intervals of one year." 

(2) 

The following Article 65a is inserted: 

"Article 65a 

In  the  case  of  supplies  of  services  for  which  VAT  is  payable  by  the  customer 
pursuant to Article 196, where an invoice is drawn up before the service is supplied 
or  a  payment  made  on  account,  VAT  shall  be  chargeable  on  receipt  of  the  invoice 
and on the amount invoiced."  

(3) 

In Article 66, the following second paragraph is added: 

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"The  derogation  provided  for  in  the  first  paragraph  shall  not,  however,  apply  to 
supplies of services in respect of which VAT is payable by the customer pursuant to 
Article 196." 

(4) 

Article 250(2) is replaced by the following: 

"2.  The VAT return referred to in paragraph 1 shall be submitted by electronic file 
transfer. 

Member States may, however, authorise VAT returns to be submitted by other means 
for certain categories of taxable person."  

(5) 

In Article 251, the following point (f) is added: 

"(f) 

the  total  value,  exclusive  of  VAT,  of  acquisitions  of  services  supplied  by 
taxable  persons  established  in  the  Community  and  in  respect  of  which  the 
taxable  person  is  liable  for  payment  of  VAT  by  virtue  of  Article 196  and  in 
respect of which VAT has become chargeable during this tax period." 

(6) 

Article 252(2) is replaced by the following: 

"2.  The tax period shall be one month. 

The  Member  States  may,  however,  set  a  longer  period,  provided  that  it  does  not 
exceed  one  year,  for  taxable  persons  the  total  value  of  whose  intra-Community 
acquisitions of goods and services during the previous calendar year for which they 
are  liable  for  VAT  by  virtue  of  Article 196  does  not  exceed  EUR 200 000  or  its 
equivalent in national currency."  

(7) 

Article 263 is replaced by the following: 

"Article 263 

1. 
The recapitulative statement shall be drawn up for each calendar month within 
a  period  not  exceeding  one  month  and  in  accordance  with  procedures  to  be 
determined by the Member States. 

The recapitulative statements referred to in paragraph 1 shall be submitted by 

2. 
electronic file transfer. 

Member States may, however, authorise recapitulative statements to be submitted by 
other means for certain categories of taxable person." 

(8) 

Article 264(2) is replaced by the following: 

"2.  The  value  referred  to  in  point  (d)  of  paragraph  1  shall  be  declared  for  the 
calendar month during which VAT became chargeable. 

The amounts referred to in point (f) of paragraph 1 shall be declared for the calendar 
month during which the person acquiring the goods was notified of the adjustment." 

(9) 

Article 265(2) is replaced by the following: 

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"2.  The  value  referred  to  in  point  (c)  of  paragraph  1  shall  be  declared  for  the 
calendar month during which VAT became chargeable." 

Article 2 

Transposition 

1. 

Member  States  shall  bring  into  force  the  laws,  regulations  and  administrative 
provisions necessary to comply with this Directive with effect from 1 January 2010. 
They  shall  forthwith  communicate  to  the  Commission  the  text  of  those  provisions 
and a correlation table between those provisions and this Directive. 

When  Member  States  adopt  those  provisions,  they  shall  contain  a  reference  to  this 
Directive  or  be  accompanied  by  such  a  reference  on  the  occasion  of  their  official 
publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made. 

2. 

Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions 
of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive. 

This  Directive  shall  enter  into  force  on  the  […]  day  following  that  of  its  publication  in  the 
Official Journal of the European Union. 

Article 3 

Article 4 

This Directive is addressed to the Member States. 

Done at Brussels,  

For the Council 
The President 

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2008/0059 (CNS) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL REGULATION 

amending Regulation (EC) No 1798/2003 to combat tax evasion connected with 
intra-Community transactions 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community,  and  in  particular 
Article 93 thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission5, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament6, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee7, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

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To  combat  VAT  evasion  more  effectively,  it  is  imperative  that  the  Member  States 
collect  and  exchange  information  on  intra-Community  transactions  as  rapidly  as 
possible. A period of one month is the most appropriate response to this need, taking 
account of businesses' accounting and financial periods.  

In view of the amendments made by Council Directive 2008/XX/EC8 to the period for 
declaring  intra-Community  transactions  in  Council  Directive  2006/112/EC  of 
28 November 2006  on  the  common  system  of  value  added  tax9,  it  is  necessary  to 
amend  the  references  to  that  period  in  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1798/2003  of 
7 October 2003  on  administrative  cooperation  in  the  field  of  value  added  tax  and 
repealing Regulation (EEC) No 218/9210. 

Since  the  objectives  of  the  proposed  action  to  tackle  VAT  evasion  cannot  be 
sufficiently  achieved  by  the  Member  States,  whose  action  in  the  matter  depends  on 
information collected by the other Member States, and can therefore, by reason of the 
need  to  involve  all  Member  States,  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 the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality 

OJ C […], […], p.[…].  
OJ C […], […], p.[…].  
OJ C […], […], p.[…].  
OJ L XX, p. XX. 
OJ  L  347,  11.12.2006,  p.  1.  Directive  as  last  amended  by  Directive  2008/8/EC  (OJ  L 44,  20.2.2008, 
p. 11). 
OJ  L  264,  15.10.2003,  p.  1.  Regulation  as  last  amended  by  Regulation  (EC)  No  143/2008  of  12 
February 2008 (OJ L 44, 20.2.2008, p. 1). 

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enshrined in the same Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary to 
achieve its objective. 

(4) 

Since  the  amendments  contained  in  this  Regulation  are  necessary  to  adapt 
Regulation (EC)  No 1798/2003 
in 
Directive 20XX/XX/EC,  with  which  the  Member  States  have  to  comply  by 
1 January 2010, this Regulation must enter into force on the same date.  

the  measures 

provided 

for 

to 

(5) 

Regulation (EC) No 1798/2003 should therefore be amended accordingly, 

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

Article 1 

Regulation (EC) No 1798/2003 is amended as follows: 

(1) 

The second paragraph of Article 23 is replaced by the following: 

"The  values  referred  to  in  point  2  of  the  first  paragraph  shall  be  expressed  in  the 
currency of the Member State providing the information and shall relate to calendar 
quarters  for  periods  prior  to  1 January 2010  and  to  calendar  months  as  from  that 
date." 

(2) 

The second paragraph of Article 24 is replaced by the following: 

"The  values  referred  to  in  point  2  of  the  first  paragraph  shall  be  expressed  in  the 
currency of the Member State providing the information and shall relate to calendar 
quarters  for  periods  prior  to  1 January 2010  and  to  calendar  months  as  from  that 
date." 

(3) 

Article 25(1) and (2) are replaced by the following: 

"1.  Where  the  competent  authority  of  a  Member  State  is  obliged  to  grant  access  to 
information under  Articles 23 and 24, it shall do so as soon as possible  and within 
one  month  at  the  latest  of  the  end  of  the  calendar  month  to  which  the  information 
relates. 

2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, where information is added to a database 
in the circumstances provided for in Article 22, access to such additional information 
shall be granted as quickly as possible and no later than one month after the end of 
the calendar month in which it was collected." 

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 2010. 

Article 2 

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. 

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Done at Brussels,  

For the Council 
The President 

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