CELEX: 51979PC0794
Language: en
Date: 1980-01-10
Title: PROPOSAL FOR COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON THE COMMUNITY VALUE ADDED TAX AND EXCISE DUTY PROCEDURE APPLICABLE TO THE STORES OF VESSELS, AIRCRAFT AND INTERNATIONAL TRAINS

No C 31/10                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                8.2.80
             Proposal for a Council Directive on the Community value added tax and excise duty
                  . procedure applicable to the stores of vessels, aircraft and international trains
                           (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 23 January 1980)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                   procedure in the field of value added tax that must
COMMUNITIES,                                                  enter into force in its entirety upon or prior to the
                                                              expiry of the transitional period provided for in the
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                  aforementioned Directive for the gradual adaptation
European Economic Community, and in particular                of national laws;
Articles 99 and 100 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,            Whereas, having regard to the similarity of the
                                                              problems arising in connection with value added tax
                                                              and excise duties and in order to simplify the tax
Having regard to the opinion of the            European
                                                              rules applicable to a given transaction, a single
Parliament,
                                                              procedure should be adopted for all these charges;
                                                              whereas the said single tax procedure must itself be as
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and              similar as possible to the Community provisions laid
Social Committee,                                             down in respect of customs duties,
Whereas Article 15 of the Sixth Council Directive
77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonization
of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover
taxes — common system of value added tax: uniform             HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
basis of assessment (') contains provisions for
exempting, subject to certain conditions, the supply of
goods loaded as stores on board sea-going vessels and
                                                                                      CHAPTER I
aircraft engaged in international traffic;
                                                                                        General
Whereas, although the Directive referred to above
does not contain any specific provisions for
exemption in respect of the importation of stores on                                    Article 1
board sea-going vessels and aircraft engaged in inter-
national traffic, Member States were able to exempt
                                                               1.    This Directive lays down the Community
importation of such stores on the basis of general
                                                              procedure for value added tax and excise duties
provisions contained in the said Directive;
                                                              applicable to goods intended for consumption on
                                                              board vessels, aircraft and trains engaged in inter-
Whereas the same is true of the provisioning of                national transport, hereinafter call 'stores'.
vessels to be used for international inland waterway
transport and of international trains;
                                                               2.     For the purposes of this Directive:
Whereas, however, the general provisions in question           (a) 'stores' means catering supplies, fuels, lubricants
are not suited to the requirements peculiar to the                  and other oils for technical use, and sundry
transactions concerned; whereas application thereof                 stores;
to the said transactions in any case necessitates an
                                                                    — 'catering supplies' means any products
interpretation of the above Directive; whereas this
                                                                        intended solely for consumption on board by
may lead to the application of divergent provisions as
                                                                        crew members or passengers,
 between     Member      States and whereas         such
 divergencies might distort the conditions of                       — 'fuels, lubricants and other oils for technical
 competition within the Community;                                      use' means products intended for feeding the
                                                                        propulsion     units    and    operating   other
Whereas, therefore, the stores referred to herein                       machinery and equipment on board,
 ought to be subject to a specific Community                        — 'sundry stores' means any consumable care
                                                                        and     maintenance       products    and    any
                                                                         consumable products used for the on-board
 O O J N o L 145, 13.6. 1977, p. 1.                                      preservation, treatment or preparation of the
 ---pagebreak--- 8.2.80                           Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 31/11
         goods carried or as feedingstuffs for animals            State or for a non-member country, or vice versa,
         carried;                                                  and transport carried out between French
                                                                  territory in Europe and the French overseas
(b) Vessels' means any vessels within headings No                 departments or between the Federal Republic of
     89.01 and No 89.02 and subheading 89.03 A of                 Germany and the Island of Heligoland or
     the Common Customs Tariff;                                   between Denmark and Greenland, or vice versa;
(c) 'pleasure vessels' or 'private aircraft' means vessels   (i) 'international trains' means trains running from a
     or aircraft used by the owner theroef or the                 point of departure in the Community to a
     natural or legal person who enjoys their use                 destination in a non-member country, or vice
     either through hire or through any other means,              versa, and trains running between two Member
     for purposes other than commercial purposes and              States, whether or not via a non-member country;
     in particular other than for the carriage of pass-
     engers for payment, reward or any other material        (j) 'excise duties' means any charges other than
     advantage and other than for the industrial or               turnover taxes levied on the production or
     commercial carriage of goods, whether or not                 consumption of goods.
     against payment;
(d) 'ports' means both port installations proper and         3.     Fuels, lubricants and other oils for technical use
     roadsteads or any other mooring points auth-            are considered to be products intended for
     orized by the competent authorities;                    consumption on board where they are intended for
                                                             use:
(e) 'aircraft' means power-driven         heavier-than-air
     aircraft (including helicopters);                       — by aircraft on board vessels engaged in inter-
                                                                 national navigation, for the purposes of their
(f) 'international sea transport' means transport
                                                                 mission;
     carried out by sea by a vessel setting out from one
     Member State and bound for another Member               — for in-flight provisioning of aircraft themselves
     State or for a non-member country, or vice versa,           engaged in international air transport.
     and transport carried out between French
     territory in Europe and the French overseas
     departments or between the Federal Republic of
     Germany and the Island of Heligoland or
     between Denmark and Greenland, or vice versa;
                                                                                     CHAPTER II
     a vessel engaged in navigation on the high seas in
     pursuance of a commercial, industrial or fishing
     activity other than a transport activity shall be                       Exemptions on importation
     treated as engaged in international sea transport,
     provided such vessel remains at sea for more than
                                                                                       Article 2
     forty-eight hours;
(g) 'international inland waterway transport' means           Member States shall. not levy value added tax or
     transport carried out on a lake, river or canal by       excise duties in respect of the importation of stores on
     a vessel setting out from a Member State and             board:
     bound for another Member State or non-member
     countries, or vice versa and transport carried out       1. a vessel engaged in international sea transport
     within the customs territory of the Community on            which enters territorial waters bound for a port
     the following waterways:                                    situated on their territory, until the vessel arrives in
     — The Rhine and its tributaries and the other               that port;
         waterways referred to in Article 2 of the
         revised Mannheim Convention of 17 October            2. a vessel engaged in international inland waterway
          1868 for the Navigation of the Rhine;                  transport which enters their territory:
      — the Scheldt as far as Antwerp and              the        (a) for the whole duration of the voyage, if this
          Terneuzen canal as far as Ghent;                            takes place exclusively in waters having inter-
                                                                      national status;
      — the Moselle, from its confluence with the
          Rhine as far as Metz;                                   (b) in all other cases, as far as the port of final
                                                                      destination situated in the inland waters of a
      — which are hereinafter referred to as 'inter-                  Member State.
          national waterways'.
 (h) 'international air transport' means transport            3. an aircraft engaged in international air transport
      carried out by an aircraft taking off in one                and bound for an airport situated on their
      Member State and bound for another Member                  territory, until the aircraft arrives at that airport.
 ---pagebreak---  No C 31/12                             Official Journal of the European Communities                               8. 2. 80
                          Article 3                                      Member State, during the entire period of its
                                                                         stay in a port or in the territorial or inland
 Member States shall exempt from value added tax                         waters of that State;
 and excise duties supplies of stores consumed on
                                                                     — a fishing vessel, save for a vessel engaged in
 board a means of transport referred to in Article 2:
                                                                         high-sea fishing, registered in a Member State
                                                                         during the entire period of its stay in the
 1. until it reaches a destination         referred   to  in             territorial waters of that State;
    Article 2;
                                                                     — a vessel engaged in international inland
    during the journey between ports of call or stops                    waterway transport in the customs territory of
    situated on their territoiry, provided that:                         the Community where such supplies were not
                                                                         purchased in the country of provisioning in
    (a) these ports of call or stops are part of the                     accordance with the general tax arrangements
        normal itinerary to the final destination;                       applicable on that country's domestic market;
    (b) no passengers or freight are embarked at any            (b) fuels other than those contained in standard-size
        of these ports of call or stops in order to be               tanks directly connected to the propulsion units
        disembarked at another.                                      or other machinery or equipment on board to be
                                                                     fed therewith.
        However, where passengers or freight are
        embarked at any of these ports of call to be
        disembarked at another, fuel on board a means
        of transport in the normal tanks shall be                                         Article 5
        exempt;
                                                                Member States shall suspend the levying of value
    during the entire period of stay in a port or               added tax and excise duties in respect of the impor-
    shipyard or at an airport, provided that this period        tation of stores on board a means of transport
    does not exceed the usual period necessary to               referred to in Article 2 at the time of its arrival at its
    achieve the purposes for which the said means of            destination, provided that such stores are:
    transport carries out the international transport
                                                                (a) kept on board under customs or tax control;
    operation which it has undertaken.
                                                                (b) transferred, under the control and with the auth-
                                                                     orization of the competent authorities, to other
                                                                     means of transport situated in the same port or
                                                                     airport and intended for use in an international
                                                                     transport operation which confers entitlement to
                                                                     the exemption referred to in Articles 6 and 7;
                          Article 4
                                                                (c) placed under one of the rrangements provided for
Article 3 shall not apply to:                                        in Article 14 (1) (b) or (c) or in Article 16 (1) (A)
                                                                     of Directive 77/388/EEC.
(a) catering supplies on board:
     — a vessel whilst it is out of commission or
         whilst it is being used for purposes other than
         those for which it is normally engaged in inter-
         national sea transport;                                                       CHAPTER III
     — a vessel used as a floating residence or a
                                                                                Exemption on exportation
         floating restaurant, hotel or casino, or for
         similar purposes, during the entire period of
         its stay in a port or in the territorial or inland
        waters of a Member State;                                                        Article 6
     — a pleasure vessel during the entire period of its
                                                                Member States shall exempt from value added tax
         stay in a port or in the territorial or inland
                                                                and excise duties the supply of stores loaded on
         waters of a Member State where such supplies
                                                                board:
         were not purchased in the country of
         provisioning in accordance with the general            1. a vessel engaged in international sea transport;
         tax arrangements applicable on that country's
         domestic market;                                       2. a vessel engaged in international inland waterway
                                                                    transport, with the exception of catering supplies
     — a vessel belonging to the administrative                     intended for consumption in the customs territory
         services or a military vessel flying the flag of a         of the Community;
 ---pagebreak---  8. 2. 80                          Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 31/13
 3. an aircraft engaged in international air transport.        2.     The exemption shall not apply to:
 The exemption referred to in the preceding paragraph          (a) alcoholic beverages and other products containing
 shall also be granted in respect of the supply of stores           alcohol, with the exception of beer, still wine and
 loaded on board such' means of transport during a                  sparkling wine;
 stay or at a port of call or airport in a Member State,
 subject to the conditions and within the limits laid          (b) tobacco and tobacco products.                       (
 down in Article 3.
                                                               3.     Stores on board international trains at the time
                           Article 7                           of their arrival at the station of destination may:
 1.    Article 6 shall apply to the supply of stores, with     — be kept on board under customs or tax control, or
 the exception of catering supplies, loaded on board:          — be transferred, under the supervision and with the
 — coastal fishing vessels,                                        authorization of the competent authorities, to
                                                                   other international trains at the same station.
— vessels used for rescue and assistance at sea,
 even if these vessels do not sail outside territorial
 waters.                                                       4.    Without prejudice to paragraph 3, where stores
                                                               are intended for consumption within the customs
 However, catering supplies loaded on board vessels            territory of the Community, only products purchased
 used for rescue and assistance at sea are exempt              in accordance with the general tax arrangements
where the vessel remains at sea for more than                  applicable on the domestic market of the country of
 48 hours.                                                     provisioning may be loaded on board international
                                                               trains which are ready for departure.
2.     Article 6 shall not apply to the supply of stores
loaded on board:
 (a) pleasure vessels;
(b) fishing vessels operating in fresh water;
                                                                                       CHAPTER V
(c) private aircraft.
                                                                                 Miscellaneous provisions
                                                                                         Article 9
                       CHAPTER IV
                                                               Member States shall adopt the laws, regulations or
               Stores for international trains                 administrative provisions necessary to prevent fraud
                                                               and abuse.
                          Article 8                            To this end, Member States may:
1.     Member States shall not levy value added tax or         1. by way of derogation from Articles 3 and 8
excise duties in respect of the importation of stores on
board international trains where the following                    — place under seal any stores in excess of those
conditions are met:                                                    necessary for the proper operation of the
                                                                      means of transport and for the normal needs of
(a) the catering supplies:                                            crew members and passengers;
     — do not exceed the quantities normally
          necessary for the needs of the persons carried       2. by way of derogation from Article 6
          during the journey to and from their
          destination;                                            — refuse to authorize the loading of exempt
                                                                       stores where the conditions of a journey to be
     — have been purchased in the country of                           carried out by the means of transport do not
          provisioning in accordance with the general                  justify consumption thereof;
          tax arrangements applicable on that country's
         domestic market;                                         — determine the quantities of stores to be
                                                                       embarked and refuse to authorize the loading
(b) the fuels are contained in standard-size tanks                     of stores in excess of those needed for the inter-
     directly connected to the plant to be fed                         national journey in question, taking into
     therewith.                                                        account:
 ---pagebreak--- NoC31/14                             Official Journal of the European Communities                              8.2.80
       (a) the means of transport and the nature and              international    organization     and    containing
           estimated duration of the journey;                     provisions not consistent with this Directive.
       (b) the number of crew members and pass-
           engers;
                                                                                   CHAPTER VI
       (c) the quantity of stores already on board the
           means of transport.                                                    Final provisions
                        Article 10                                                   Article 11
The provisions of this Directive shall not prevent the       1.     Member States shall bring into force the
application of:                                              provisions necessary to comply with this Directive not
(a) more restrictive measures in force in Member             later than 1 January 1981, and shall inform the
    States under agreements to ensure reciprocity of         Commission thereof. However, Member States which
    treatment;                                               have availed themselves of the options referred to in
                                                             Article 28 of Directive 77/338/EEC may retain the
(b) special measures laid down in respect of foreign         national provisions falling within the scope of this
    armed forces stationed on Member States'                 Directive until 1 January 1983.
    territory     in    pursuance    of      international
    conventions;                                             2.     Member States shall communicate to the
(c) special agreements already concluded by Member           Commission the texts of the main provisions of
    States authorizing aircraft of non- member               national law which they subsequently adopt in the
    countries or other Member States to operate              field governed by this Directive.
    freight or passenger services between two points
    in their territory;
                                                                                     Article 12
(d) a convention already concluded between a
    Member State and a non-member country or an              This Directive is addressed to the Member States.