CELEX: 51997PC0621
Language: en
Date: 1997-11-24
Title: Amended proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision establishing a programme of Community action to reinforce the functioning of the indirect taxation systems of the internal market (Fiscalis programme)

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
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                                                    Brussels, 24.11.1997
                                                   COM(97) 621 final
                                                   97/0128 (COD)
                               Amended proposal for a
            EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL DECISION
   establishing a programme of Community action to reinforce the functioning
                of the indirect taxation systems of the internal market
                                  (Fiscalis programme)
            (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 a (2)
                                   of the EC-Treaty)
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                            EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
Following the opinion of the European Parliament1 of 20 November 1997 on the proposal
for a European Parliament and Council decision establishing a programme of Community
action to reinforce the functioning of the indirect taxation systems of the internal market
 (Fiscalis programme)2 and in accordance with Article 189 A, paragraph 2 of the EC
Treaty, the Commission has decided to amend the aforementioned proposal.
 The Commission has accepted, in substance, the amendments concerning:
- a reference to the experience of the Customs 2000 programme (Amendment 4);
- the objective on a common standard of understanding of Community law
    (Amendment 7);
- the existing communication and information exchange systems to be covered by the
    programme (Amendments 1 and Amendment 8);
- the definition of exchanges (Amendment 5); and the arrangements for exchanges of
    officials (Amendment 9);
- invitations to outside experts in the field to seminars for tax officials (Amendments 2
    and 10);
 - the definition of multilateral controls (Amendment 6);and the arrangements for
    organising multilateral controls (Amendment 11);
 - The arrangements for implementing the common training initiative, including the
    establishment of a cooperation network, the tasks of the network and responsibilities
    of the Member States (Amendments 3 and 12), with the exception of the reference to
    the Committee foreseen in Article 11 which is inappropriate to the establishment of
    the cooperation network;
- the cost of any impact studies of the programme (Amendment 13) and the
    arrangements for reports on the impact (Amendment 15);
- the arrangements for the implementation of the programme (Amendment 14);
- the financial arrangements for implementation of the programme (Amendments 16, 17
    and 18).
     Doc. PE 223.491
2
     OJNoC 177 of 11 June 1997, p. 8
 ---pagebreak---                                      Amended Proposal for a
                            European Parliament and Council decision
      establishing a programme of Community action to reinforce the functioning
                    of the indirect taxation systems of the internal market
                                      (Fiscalis programme)
                   Original Text                                      Amended Text
                                              Recital 7
Whereas the experience of the operation of the     Whereas the experience of the operation of
VAT Information Exchange System (VIES)             information exchange systems in the European
established by Council Regulation (EEC)            Community has shown the value of
No218/92 has shown the value of information         information technology in protecting revenue
technology in protecting revenue whilst             whilst minimizing administrative burdens;
minimizing administrative burdens; whereas it       whereas it has proved itself to be an essential
has proved itself to be an essential tool of        tool of cooperation that has also stimulated
cooperation that has also stimulated wider          wider cooperation among Member States;
cooperation among Member States;
                                          Recital 9a (new)
                                                    Whereas seminars form an ideal forum for the
                                                    exchange of ideas between indirect taxation
                                                    officials and, where appropriate, other experts
                                                     in the field, such as academics, taxable persons
                                                     (both large companies and SMEs) or their
                                                    representatives and advisers; whereas in such
                                                     seminars suggestions may emerge which could
                                                     improve the legal instruments in force,
                                                     encourage the convergent evolution of national
                                                     indirect tax systems and facilitate the
                                                     cooperation between the administrations
                                                     concerned.
                                              Recital 10
 Whereas the experience gained from the              Whereas administrative cooperation depends
 Matthaeus-Tax programme has indicated that          on the professional skills and knowledge,
 the       coordinated      development        and   including in languages, of indirect taxation
 implementation of a common training                 officials; whereas a cooperation network of the
programme established by Commission                 national organisations, academies or schools,
 Decision 95/279/EC3 can achieve the                 and officials responsible for training should be
 objectives of this programme, in particular in      established to identify the common skills and
 achieving a higher common standard of              knowledge that these officials should possess
understanding of Community law; whereas             and develop the necessary common training
 such programmes should be developed further;       programmes to enable them to gain the
whereas the Member States should therefore          necessary common skills and knowledge;
 ensure that all of their officials receive the     whereas, in the final report to be submitted, the
 initial training and regular continuous training   Commission may consider the need for a
 envisaged      by     the    common      training  Community academy for indirect taxation
programmes;                                         officials;
      OJ No L 172, 22.7.1995, p. 24.
 ---pagebreak---                                              Recital 11
Whereas a sufficient standard of linguistic        Whereas the experience gained from the
competence on the part of indirect taxation         Customs 2000 programme4 has shown that
officials has proved to be essential to facilitate  actions to promote administrative cooperation
cooperation; whereas the Member States             between national Customs administrations can
should therefore provide the necessary              also strengthen the effectiveness of the
language training for their officials;              instruments for combating fraud;
                                            Article 2(d)
"exchange" shall mean a work-based visit in         "exchange" shall mean a work-based visit in
the Community interest of an official from one      the Community interest of an official to the
administration to another, organized under the      administration or training institution of another
programme;                                          Member       State, organized under the
                                                    programme;
                                            Article 2(e)
"bilateral and multilateral control exercises"      "multilateral controls" shall mean joint
shall mean joint collaboration of two or more       collaboration of at least three administrations
administrations to integrate their controls of      to integrate or coordinate their controls of
taxable persons having indirect tax obligations     taxable persons having indirect tax obligations
in each of the Member States concerned,             in the Member States concerned, within the
within the Community legal framework for            Community legal framework for cooperation;
cooperation;
                                            Article 3(a)
to achieve a high common standard of                to achieve a high common standard of
understanding of Community law and of its           understanding of Community law, in
implementation in the Member States among           particular, in the field of indirect taxation, and
officials;                                          of its implementation in the Member States
                                                    among officials;
                                             Article 4.1
The Commission and the Member States shall         The Commission and the Member States shall
establish and ensure the functioning of            establish and ensure the functioning of such
necessary communication and information            new communication and information exchange
exchange systems, manuals and guides.              systems, manuals and guides as they consider
                                                   necessary; they shall also ensure the
                                                   functioning of such existing systems, manuals
                                                   and guides as they consider necessary;
    OJ No L 33,4.2.1997, p. 24
 ---pagebreak---                                             Article 4.2
The      Community        elements     of    the    The        Community      elements      of     the
communication and information exchange              communication and information exchange
system shall be the equipment, software and          system shall be the equipment, software and
network links between Member States,                network links between Member States,
required to be common to all Member States in       required to be common to all Member States in
order to ensure the overall interconnection and      order to ensure the overall interconnection and
interoperability of the systems, whether they        interoperability of the systems, whether they
be installed in the premises of the Commission       be installed in the premises of the Commission
(or a designated sub-contractor) or in the           (or a designated sub-contractor) or in the
premises of the Member States (or a                  premises of the Member States (or a
designated sub-contractor).                          designated sub-contractor).
                                                     If subcontractors are used, they shall be
                                                     selected on the basis of invitations to tender
                                                     organized in accordance with the relevant
                                                     financial provisions.
                                  Article 5.1, first subparagraph
 The Commission and the Member States shall          The Commission and the Member States shall
 organize exchanges. The exchanges shall vary         organize exchanges. The exchanges shall vary
 in length, as appropriate, but shall not be          in length, as appropriate, but shall not be
 longer than one year. Each exchange shall be         longer than six months per official Each
 targeted on a particular work activity and shall     exchange shall be targeted on a particular work
 be sufficiently prepared beforehand, and             activity and shall be sufficiently prepared
 evaluated afterwards, by the officials               beforehand, and evaluated afterwards, by the
 concerned.                                           officials and administrations concerned.
                                             Article 5.2
 Seminars shall be organized by                the Seminars shall be organised by the
 Commission and the Member States.                    Commission and the Member States to bring
                                                      together officials from different Member
                                                      States and from the Commission and, where
                                                      appropriate, other experts in the field, such as
                                                     academics, taxable persons             or    their
                                                     representatives and advisers.
                                             Article 5 3
 The Commission and the Member States shall The Commission and the Member States shall
 organize, on a pilot basis, bilateral and select specific and multilateral controls to be
 multilateral control exercises within the supported by the Community within the
 Community legal framework for cooperation.           Community legal framework for cooperation.
                                                     The participating Member States shall send
                                                     reports and evaluations of the controls to the
                                                     Commission and the other Member States;
 ---pagebreak---                                               Article 6
 1.       The Commission and the Member              1.      The Member States, in co-operation
 States shall develop existing and new common       with the Commission, shall establish a co-
 training programmes to provide a common            operation      network      of  the     national
 core of training for officials. Member States      organisations, academies or schools, and
 shall ensure that their officials receive initial  officials responsible for training in indirect
 training as set out in the common training         taxation with the tasks of:
 programmes; that all these officials shall
 receive regular continuous training as set out     a)       identifying the common professional
 in the common training programmes.                 skills and knowledge, including in languages,
                                                    that officials should possess;
                                                    b)       developing existing common training
                                                    programmes and, if necessary, devising new
                                                    programmes, to provide a common core of
                                                    training for officials to enable them to attain
                                                    the necessary common professional skills and
                                                    knowledge;
                                                    c)       opening the training courses provided
                                                   by each Member State for their own officials
                                                   to officials from all other Member States,
                                                   where appropriate;
                                                   d)        developing the necessary common
                                                   tools for indirect taxation training, including
                                                   language training tools;
                                                   e)        analysing the information provided
                                                   annually by the Member States under Article
                                                   6.2 on the training provided to their officials.
2.       Member States shall provide the           2.        The Member States shall ensure that
necessary language training for their officials    their officials shall receive the initial and
to ensure that they attain a sufficient standard   regular continuous training necessary to
of linguistic competence.                          possess the common professional skills and
                                                   knowledge, in accordance with the common
                                                   training programmes. They shall inform the
                                                   Commission annually of the content and
                                                   amount of training they provide to their
                                                   officials.
3.       The Commission and the Member Delete
States shall develop the Community tools for
indirect taxation training, including linguistic
training tools.
 ---pagebreak---                                              Article 7
The programme shall be open to the                 The programme shall be open to the
participation of the associated countries of       participation of the associated countries of
central and eastern Europe in accordance with      central and eastern Europe in accordance with
the conditions laid down in Europe                 the conditions laid down in Europe
Agreements or their Additional Protocols            Agreements or their Additional Protocols
relating to their participation in Community       relating to their participation in Community
programmes and in so far as Community law          programmes and in so far as Community law
on indirect taxation so permits. Hie                on indirect taxation so permits. The
programme shall also be open to the                 programme shall also be open to the
participation of Cyprus in accordance with the      participation of Cyprus in accordance with the
Common Resolution on the establishment of a         Common Resolution on the establishment of a
structured did ogue between the EU and              structured dialogue between the EU and
Cyprus and in so far as Community law on            Cyprus and in so far as Community law on
indirect taxation so permits.                       indirect taxation so permits. The expenditure
                                                    generated by this participation shall be
                                                    additional to the fin meial framework of this
                                                   programme.
                                        Article 8.2(d) (new)
                                                   The cost of any independent studies of the
                                                   impact of this programme, if deemed
                                                   necessary;
                                              Article 9
The       financial     framework     for     the   The      financial     framework    for     the
implementation of the present programme for         implementation of the present programme for
the period 1 January 1998 to 31 December            the period 1 January 1998 to 31 December
2002 is hereby set at ECU 45 million, Hie           2002 is hereby set at ECU 45 million. This
 annual appropriations shall be authorized by       financial framework is in part covered by the
the budgetary authority within the limits of the    financial perspective 1993-99. The annual
 financial perspective.                             appropriations shall be authorized by the
                                                    budgetary authority within the limits of the
                                                    financial perspective.
                                             Article 10
 The rules necessary for the implementation of The           measures       necessary   for    the
 this Decision shall be determined by the implementation of the present programme
 Commission in accordance with the procedure shall be determined by the Commission in
 laid down in Article 11.                           accordance with the procedure laid down in
                                                    Article 11.
                                           Article 12.3(b)
 by 30 June 2003 at the latest, a final report on by 30 June 2003 at the latest, a final report on
 the implementation of this programme.              the implementation and the impact of this
                                                    programme.
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                                                                    ISSN 0254-1475
                                                             COM(97) 621 final
                                               DOCUMENTS
EN                                                             09 10 01 06
                                    Catalogue number : CB-CO-97-637-EN-C
                                                              ISBN 92-78-27783-5
Office for Official Publications of the Fiuropean Communities
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