CELEX: 51981PC0312
Language: en
Date: 1981-06-18
Title: Amendments to the proposal for a COUNCIL DIRECTIVE determining the scope of Article 14(1) (d) of Directive 77/388/EEC as regards exemption from value added tax on the final importation of certain goods (presented by the Commission to the Council pursuant to the second paragraph of Article 149 of the EEC Treaty)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DE LA COMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (81) 312
Vol. 1981/0101
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 ---pagebreak---      COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                                      COM(81)312 final
                                                      Brussels . 18 June 1981
                             Amendments to the proposal for a
                                       COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
           determining the scope of Article 14(1 ) < d ) of Directive 77 / 388 / EEC
           as regards exemption from value added tax on the final importation
                                      of certain goods
           ( presented by the Commission to the Council pursuant to the second
             paragraph of Article 149 of the EEC Treaty )
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 ---pagebreak---                               EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
 Introduction
              On 13 June 1980, the Commission submitted to the Council a proposal
for a directive determining the scope of Article 14 ( 1)(d ) of Directive
77 / 388 / EEC as regards exempt ion'from , value added tax on the final importation
of certain goods < D *     The Economic and Social Committee and the European
Parliament delivered their opinions on the proposal respectively on 24 Sep­
tember 1980 ( 2 ). and 13 February 1981 ( 3 )*    Both of these opinions were favou­
rable and welcomed the Commission 's initiative in this area *          Certain specific
points were raised in the opinions and amendments of the original proposal
requested *     The Commission has now considered these points and amends: the
proposal where appropriate *      In making these amendments the Commission is also
conscious of the evolution of the work of the Council on the parallel proposal
for a regulation on customs duty reliefs ( 4)*        However ,. as an agreed text of /
the proposed regulation has not yet emerged, it considers            that it would be
premature to amend the tax text to take account of developments in this area *
This does not indicate an unwillingness on the part of the Commission to main­
tain the close , parallelism between the two texts *                              *
Comments on the specific amendments proposed
Article 17                                        ^                ^
              The Commission considers that this article as originally drafted is
too restrictive in the light of recent experience gained in relation to the
unfortunate disasters in Member States , and , in particular , the Italian earth­
quake disaster * . Consequently it proposes a widening of the scope of the re­
lief to cover goods imported by national organizations - and by disaster relief
agencies *                  .                                         '
 ( 1 ) 0J n° C 171 ; 11*7*1980, p * 8
 ( 2 ) 0J n° C 300 ; 18*11*1980, p , 11
 ( 3) 0J n° C 50 ; 9*3*1981 , p * 106
( 4) Doe * C0M<79 ) 104 final , 14 March 1979 *
 ---pagebreak---                                      - 2 -
 Article 24
            The amendment is designed to enable fuel in the tanks of motor
vehicles specially adapted to run on gas to benefit from tax exemption *
Article 25
           This amendment , requested by Parliament , is designed to allow
samples of non-negligible value being imported from a Member State to benefit
from tax exemption *   The effect is to put these imported samples on an equal
footing with samples used on the domestic market of a Member State and is
fully in line with the objectives pursued by the common VAT system *
Article 26
           The aim of the amendment , which is in line with the opinion of the
Economic and Social Committee , is to extend the tax exemption for small re­
presentative samples of goods intended for a trade fair or similar event to
beer and still wine *   It is considered that the conditions attached to the ,
exemption under Article 27 of proposal are sufficiently strict to avoid abuse *
However , in order to preserve the parallelism between the proposal for a cus­
toms regulation and the tax proposal , the Commission would prefer not to ex­
tend the relief to imports from third countries *
Articles 39 and 40
           Article 39 is amended in order to make it fully clear that it ope­
rates in conjunction with Article 40 ( as amended )*   Tax exemption should be
allowed where either the value of eligible goods is less than 10 Ecus ^r the
amount of VAT due on them at importation is less than 3 Ecus *    Both the Par­
liament and the Committee considered that the limit of 10 Ecus in Article 39
was too low and called for a figure of 20 Ecus to be proposed *    The Commission ,
for its part , considers that it is necessary to tread warily in this field *
 For obvious reasons of administrative simplicity it is necessary to keep the
limit for tax exemption on a par with that for the customs exemption in the
case of imports from third countries *
 ---pagebreak---            In intra- Community trade it is considered more appropriate to
tackle the problem from the angle of the amount of tax payable .   Accordingly
the Commission is amending its proposal so as to make obligatory the exemp­
tion for goods on which the VAT chargeable is less than 3 Ecus .   At a VAT
rate of 15 % this corresponds to a consignment value of 20 Ecus .
           An amendment is also submitted allowing Member States to extend this
relief to imports from third countries and to increase the limit to 6 Ecus for
intra-Community trade .
Article 47
           This additional article is proposed to allow exemption of VAT on
final importation of severely damaged vehicles which , before the damage
occurred, were temporarily imported into the Member State concerned .
           This is a case in which there is wide divergence of practice between
the Member States which can create serious difficulties for individuals and
motoring organizations alike .
           It is considered that a condition requiring the vehicle to be
unusable as such would be too restrictive as , in practice , vehicles are
written off , by insurance companies for example , even though they may still
be capable of being used on the road .   The proposed condition requiring sale
for breaking up or as scrap to a taxable person is , therefore, considered
sufficient .
 ---pagebreak---                                     - L -
    Amendments to the proposal for a Council Directive determining the
    scope of Article 14 ( 1)(d ) of Directive 77 / 388 / EEC as regards exemp­
    tion from value added tax on the final i mportat ion of certain goods
    ( Submitted by the Commission to the Council pursuant to the second
                  subparagraph of Article 149 of the Treaty )
          The Commission hereby amends its proposal as follows :
1* Article 17 is replaced by the following :
   "1.   In addition to the relief laid down in Article 15 for goods imported
         for general purposes for charitable or philanthropic organi zat ions ,
         goods imported by national organizations or by charitable or philan­
         thropic organizations approved by the competent authorities shall be
         admitted tax-free where they are intended :
        - for distribution free of charge to victims of disasters occurring
           on the territory of one or more Member States , or
         - to be made available free of charge to the victims of such disas­
           ters , while remaining the property of the organizations in question *
    2.  Goods imported by disaster relief agencies in order to meet their
        needs during the period of their activity shall also be granted re­
         lief under the same conditions .
    3.   The relief shall be granted to organizations which offer all the
        guarantees deemed necessary and which keep accounts such that the
         competent authorities are able to check their operations .
    4.   Goods , other than basic necessities of a personal nature , admitted
         tax-free may not , once they cease to be used by disaster victims ,
         be loaned, hired out or transferred , whether for a consideration or
         free of charge, without prior notification thereof to the competent
         authorities .  In such cases the tax on importation shall be that to
         which the goods are liable on the basis of the value and the rates
         in force at the time of the notification .
 ---pagebreak---   5 «•  For the purposes of this Article a   disaster " means an occurrence of
       mishap having repercussions of major importance and includes , in par­
       ticular , floods , earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and transport or
       industrial accidents corresponding to this criterion *"
The following is added to Article 24 ( 2)(c ) :
" Tanks fitted to motor vehicles     which enable gas to be used directly as
  a fuel for the vehicle     shall also be considered as standard tanks *"
The following paragraph is added ta-Article 25 :
" 3*   Where samples are supplied free of charge to a taxable person in the
       Member State of importation by a taxable person in another Member
       State , relief shall not be conditional on their value being negli­
       gible ."                                                     ,
The following is:added to Article 26 ( 2 ) :
" However , this restriction shall not apply to beer or still wine imported
  into one Member State from another *"
Article 39 ( 1 ) is replaced by the following :
" Without prejudice to the application of Article 40, goods contained in
  small consignments of ,a total value at importation not exceeding 10 ECU
  shall be admitted tax-free *"
Article 40 is replaced by the following :               ,    ■
"1 *   Goods being imported into one Member State from another in respect
       of which no excise duties or taxes other than value added tax are
       chargeable by virtue of importation and in respect of which the
       amount of tax so chargeable does not exceed 3 ECU     shall be admitted
       tax-free-
 ---pagebreak---                                     - 6 -
     2*  Member States ma)' extend this relief to imports from third countries *
     3„  Member States may increase the limit of 3 ECU   in paragraph 1 to
         6 ECU   in respect of imports from other Member States "*
7« The following chapter and article are added to Title XII :
   " Chapter VI - Severely damaged vehicles
     Article 47
     1*  Vehicles registered in a Member State of the Community which have
         been severely damaged as a result of a duly substantiated accident
         occurring on the territory of the Member State into which they had
         been temporarily imported shall be admitted tax-free *
     2*  In order to benefit from the relief the goods must be sold to a
         taxable person for the purposes of scrap or for breaking up *
     3*  Proof of the accident must be furnished to the competent authorities
         by the person standing to benefit from the relief ,,"
8. Articles 47 to 50 are renumbered 48 to 51 *