CELEX: 51988PC0730(02)
Language: en
Date: 1988-11-30
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION CONCERNING THE DOCK DUES ARRANGEMENTS IN THE FRENCH OVERSEAS DEPARTMENTS

No C 39/6                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                 16. 2. 89
                                                              II
                                                      (Preparatory Acts)
                                                 COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Decision concerning the dock dues arrangements in the French overseas
                                                         departments
                                                     COM(88)     730 final
                                    (Submitted by the Commission on 1 December 1988)
                                                        (89/C 39/07)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           on the common system of VAT; whereas, however, each
                                                                   O D imposes a special charge on all goods imported into
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European             its territory, known as dock dues;
 Economic Community, and in particular Article 227 (2)
thereof,
                                                                   Whereas the dock dues, which originated in the 19th
                                                                   century, at present constitute a means of support for
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                local industries, which have to contend with the
                                                                   problems of remoteness and insularity; whereas they also
 Having regard     to   the   opinion   of   the  European         constitute a vital instrument of self-reliance and local
 Parliament,                                                       democracy and provide resources which contribute to
                                                                   the communal development of the O D ;
 Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
 Social Committee,
                                                                  Whereas the dock dues system in its present form has
Whereas Article 227 (2) of the Treaty stipulates that a            features, however, which necessitate its reform as a
number of provisions of the Treaty shall apply to the              means of integrating the O D fully into the process of
French overseas departments (OD) as from the entry                 completing the internal market, while taking account of
into force of the Treaty; whereas the conditions under            their fragile economic structure;
which the other provisions were to apply were to be
determined within two years of the entry into force of            Whereas this system should be converted, over a period
the Treaty by decisions of the Council, acting unan-              of time that is convenient for both local and national
imously on a proposal from the Commission; whereas                 authorities, into a system of internal taxation applicable
this Article has been interpreted by the Court of Justice         to all products marketed in the O D ; whereas such a
to mean that after the expiry of the stipulated two years         system comes within the scope of Articles 95 et seq. of
all the provisions of the Treaty and of secondary legis-          the Treaty.
lation became applicable automatically in the O D , it
being understood however that there still remains the
possibility of making subsequent provision for specific           Whereas, however, for the purposes of maintaining and
measures in order to meet the needs of the territories            developing industrial activities in the O D it would be
concerned;                                                        advisable to authorize the local authorities to exempt
                                                                  local industries either totally or partially, according to
Whereas action to promote the economic and social                 economic requirements, from the application of the new
development of the O D in the past has been in the form           tax for a period not exceeding, in principle, 10 years;
of isolated measures; whereas, however, the Joint
Decision of the Council and the Commission of . . .               Whereas, in order to ensure full compliance with the
established an action programme for the O D known as              rules of the Treaty and the necessary coordination with
'Poseidom'; whereas this programme contains a tax                 the general aims pursued by the Community, the exercise
component which needs to be implemented;                          of powers by the local authorities in granting exemptions
                                                                  from the tax should be subject to prior authorization by
Whereas the Eleventh Council Directive 80/368/EEC of              the Commission, which will take decisions in accordance
26 March 1980 on the harmonization of the laws of the             with a procedure which it shall determine, taking into
Member States relating to turnover taxes (') excluded the         account the specific constraints of the O D , with a view
O D from the scope of the Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC              to attaining the aim stipulated in Article 227 (2) of the
                                                                  Treaty that care be taken to make possible the economic
(*) OJ No L 90, 3. 4. 1980, p. 41.                                and social development of the regions concerned;
 ---pagebreak--- tD 2        ^                                    COfficial]ournal of the European Communities                                                       P^oC^BB
whereas the exemption arrangements should he                                — thePrenchauthoritiesshallpresent proposals for the
temporary and should normally he terminated tO years                              abovementioned exemption to the Commission for its
after the reform of the systems whereas at the end of this                        approvals the Commission shall take a decision
time the tax arrangements should therefore he fully in                            within t^vo months in accordance ^vith a procedure
line ^vith the principles of Article ^ of the Treaty^ it                          ^vhich it shall determined taking into account the
bein^ understood that support measures ^vith the same                             specific constraints on the Cue^ ^vith a vie^v to
aims can stillhe adopted in the context of regional aid                           attaining the objective stipulated in Article 2 2 ^ ^ o f
and in compliance ^vith the provisions of Articles ^2 to                          the Treaty^ without prejudice to supervision by the
^       taking into account the arrangements for the                              commission pursuant to Articles ^2 and ^ of the
applicationofVATi^theC^PO^ whereas the Commission                                Treaty
^villpresentareporttotheCouncilbeforetheexpiryof
this tOyear periods concerning the implementation of                        ^        The tax referred to in A r t i c l e ^ a n d V A T a s applied
the arrangements and their impact on the development                        in the (mM shall be considered jointly for the purposes of
of t h e C ^ together ^vithappropriateproposals^                            the process of approximating VATrates ^vith a vie^v to
                                                                            the abolition of taxfrontiers.
^hereas^ pending the reform of the d o c k d u e s systems
Prance should he authorised to maintain the system in its
present form until not later than ^t Mecember 1 ^ ^
subject to certain conditions ensuring that the system has
the least possible effect on the common market and is                       ^ l o t l a t e r t h a n o n e y e a r b e f o r e t h e e x p i r y of theperiod
used exclusively for the purpose of attaining the aim                       provided for in Article 2 C ^ the Commission ^vill
stipulated in Article 2 ^ ^ o f t h e f r e a t y ^                         present to the C o u n c i l a r e p o r t o n t h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f
                                                                            the arrangements referred to in Article 2^ in order to
                                                                            ascertain the impact of the measures adopted on the
^A5AOO^r^or^5                      0^e^o^                                   economy of the CdO. The matters t o b e covered in the
                                                                            report ^vill include the effect of the arrangements o n t h e
                                                                            economic and social development of the C ^ the
ThePrench authorities shall take the necessary measures                     freedom of movement of products within the
to convert the dock dues system at present in force in the                  Community^ the trend of VAT rarest and regional
C^M^ in accordance ^vith the principles set out in Articles                 cooperationbet^veen t h e C a U a n d their neighbours.
2and^
                                                                            In t h e l i ^ h t o f thereport^s conclusions^ the Commission
                                    B^r^c^2                                 ^vill present to the Councilaproposal for terminating in
                                                                            principle the exemptions providedfor in A r t i c l e ^ ^ i t
1.       By ^1 Mecember t ^ ^ a t t h e l a t e s t ^ t h e d o c k d u e s bein^ understood that support measures ^vith the same
system s h a l l b e r e p l a c e d b y tax arrangements consisting        aims may be taken in the context of regional aid^ in
of a special tax applicable to all products^ whether                        conformity ^vith the provisions of Articles ^2 to ^4 of the
imported i n t o o r produced in the Cum.                                   Treaty^ taking into account the detailed arrangements
                                                                            forapplyin^VATintheC^M
2.      The revenue from the tax shall be put to use in
s u c h a ^ v a y a s to encoura^eas effectively as possible the
economic and social development of each CuU. The
Prench authorities shall inform the Commission of the
measures adopted in order to attain this abjective.                         Pendin^implementationof t h e r e f o r m o f t h e d o c k d u e s
                                                                            system in accordance ^vith the guidelines set out in
^.      Therelevant authorities of eachCoPOshallestablish                   Article P Prance shall be authorised to maintain the
abasic rate of tax.This rate may be adjusted for certain                    current d o c k d u e s arrangements until not later than ^U
categories of products^ ^vith necessities in particular                     Mecember t ^ 2 on condition that any extension of the
bein^taxedatareducedrate.                                                   listof products s u b j e c t t o d o c k d u e s or any increase in
                                                                            the rates thereof shall be subject to prior authorisation
4.      ^ h e r e necessary for the promotion or maintenance                by theCommission.The Commission shallalso examine
of a^ivenindustrialactivity^                                                ^viththerelevantlocalauthoritiesanychan^es that have
— Prance may be authorised to exempt from the tax the                       takenplacesince t ]anuary t ^ O .
      local production activities concerned^ either totally or
     partially according to economic requirements^ for a
     period of not more than ^0 years from the date of
      introduction of the systems                                           ThisPOecision i s a d d r e s s e d t o t h e P r e n c h R e p u b l i c .