CELEX: 51990PC0423
Language: en
Date: 1990-09-20
Title: AMENDED PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) ON THE STATISTICS RELATING TO THE TRADING OF GOODS BETWEEN MEMBER STATES

9. 10. 90                             Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 254/7
             Amended proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) on the statistics relating to the trading of
                                              goods between Member States (')
                                              COM(90) 423 final — SYN 181
             (Submitted   by   the  Commission    pursuant to Article 149 (3) of the EEC             Treaty on
                                                     24 September 1990)
                                                       (90/C 254/06)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                         Whereas until the end of 1992 statistics relating to the
                                                                 trading of goods between Member States will benefit
                                                                 from the formalities, documentation and controls which
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            the customs authorities, for their own requirements or
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100a               for those of other departments, prescribe for consignors
thereof,                                                         and consignees of goods in circulation between Member
                                                                 States, but which will disappear through the elimination
                                                                 of physical frontiers and tax barriers;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                 Whereas it will consequently be necessary to collect
In cooperation with the European Parliament,                     directly from the consignors and consignees the data
                                                                 necessary to compile statistics relating to the trading of
                                                                 goods between Member States, using methods and tech-
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                 niques which will ensure that they are exhaustive,
Social Committee,                                                reliable and up-to-date, without giving rise for the
                                                                 parties concerned, in particular for small and
                                                                 medium-sized businesses, to a burden out of proportion
Whereas abolishing physical barriers between Member              to the results which users of the said statistics can
States is necessary to complete the internal market;             reasonably expect;
whereas a satisfactory level of information on the trading
of goods between Member States should thus be ensured
by means other than those involving checks, even                 Whereas related legislation must henceforth apply to all
indirect ones, at internal frontiers;                            statistics relating to the trading of goods between
                                                                 Member States, including those statistics which are not
                                                                 to be harmonized or made compulsory by the
Whereas an analysis of the situation of the Community            Community before 1993, in order to prevent Member
and the Member States after 1992 reveals that a number           States from replacing traditional procedures by new
of specific requirements will persist as regards infor-          procedures which, while effective, would however run
mation on trading of goods between Member States;                the risk of disparity; whereas, in order to meet all the
                                                                 information needs likely to arise through the implemen-
                                                                 tation of the internal market, such legislation must be
Whereas these requirements are not of a macroeconomic            able to encompass all goods circulating within the
nature, unlike those relating, for example, to national          Community, whatever their customs and tax status or the
accounts or the balance of payments, and many of them            cause of their being moved;
can not be met by means of highly aggregated data
alone, whereas matters such as trade policy, sectoral
                                                                 Whereas the statistics relating to the trading of goods
analyses, competition rules, the management and
                                                                 between Member States are a function of the movements
guidance of agriculture and fisheries, regional devel-
                                                                 of goods involved; whereas they may include data on
opment, energy projections and the organization of
                                                                 transport, which can be collected simultaneously with the
transport must on the other hand be based on statistical
                                                                 data specific to each of these categories of statistics, thus
documentation providing the most up-to-date, accurate
                                                                 lightening the overall statistical burden;
and detailed view of the internal market;
                                                                 Whereas private individuals will derive obvious
Whereas it is precisely information on the trading of            advantages from the approximation of indirect tax rates;
goods between Member States which will contribute to             whereas it is necessary to ensure that these advantages
measuring the progress of the internal market, thereby           are not diminished in their eyes by requirements to
speeding up its completion and consolidating it on a             provide information on purchases made by such indi-
sound basis;                                                     viduals in a Member State other than the Member State
                                                                 of residence; whereas the provision of such information
                                                                 would undoubtedly impose an obligation which private
                                                                 individuals would consider at the least inconvenient and
(') OJ No C 41, 18. 2. 1989, p. 5.                               which it would be impossible to enforce without
 ---pagebreak---  No C 254/8                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                   9. 10. 90
employing excessive measures; whereas it is therefore            Whereas the Commission should be assisted by a
 reasonable not to regard private individuals as                 committee to ensure the regular cooperation of the
 responsible for providing such information, apart from          Member States, in particular to resolve the problems
 suitable periodic surveys;                                      which are bound to arise in connection with information
                                                                 on the trading of goods between Member States
                                                                 following the numerous innovations introduced by the
Whereas the new collection system to be introduced is to         new collection system;
 apply to all statistics relating to the trading of goods
between Member States; whereas it must therefore be
 defined first in a general context involving new concepts,
particularly as regards the scope, the party responsible         Whereas relevant Community legislation should be
 for providing the information and the transmission of           implemented systematically by provisions adopted either
 data;                                                           by the Commission or by the Council;
Whereas the real economy of the system resides in the
 use of related administrative networks, and in particular       Whereas some of the provisions of this Regulation must
that of the VAT authorities, to provide the statistical          enter into force without delay so that the Community
 services with a minimum degree of indirect checks               and its Member States can prepare for the practical
without thereby increasing the burden on taxpayers;              consequences which it will bring as from 1 January 1993;
whereas nonetheless it is necessary to avoid confusion
 arising in the minds of the parties responsible for
providing information between their statistical and their        Whereas one of these consequences is firstly that Council
tax obligations;                                                 Regulation (EEC) No 2954/85 of 22 October 1985
                                                                 laying down certain measures for the standardization
                                                                 and simplification of the statistics of trade between
Whereas it is vital to use existing sources to compile           Member States (') must be repealed, and secondly that
basic documentation in each Member State regarding               Council Regulation (EEC) No 1736/75 of 24 June 1975
consignors and consignees of goods which are covered             on the external trade statistics of the Community and
by statistics of trade between Member States, so as to           statistics of trade between Member States (2), as last
identify, in preparation for 1992, the main parties              amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1629/88 (3), will no
concerned and to develop modern data transmission                longer be applicable to statistics relating to the trading of
techniques with their assistance;                                goods between Member States,
Whereas implementation alone will reveal the loopholes
or weaknesses in the new collection system; whereas
improvements and simplifications should be introduced            HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
within a reasonable period of time in order to prevent its
defects from having negative repercussions on the
trading of goods between Member States;
                                                                                          Article 1
Whereas it will not be possible to apply the new                 1.     The Community and its Member States shall draw
collection system during the limited period which it has         up statistics relating to the trading of goods between
been agreed to introduce from 1 January 1993 until the           Member States in accordance with the rules laid down
transition to uniform tax arrangements in the country of         by this Regulation.
origin unless account is taken of the new relations to be
established between tax and statistical authorities, in
particular as regards the obligations of parties
responsible for providing the information;                       2.     The provisions of Title I shall be applicable during
                                                                 the transition period which shall begin on 1 January
                                                                 1993 and end on the date of change over to a unified
Whereas, among the statistics relating to the trading of         system of taxation in the Member State of origin.
goods between Member States, statistics of trade
between Member States must receive priority, for
obvious reasons of importance and continuity; whereas,           3.     The provisions of Title II shall be applicable at the
however, substantial adjustments must be made to these           end of the transition period referred to in paragraph 2.
statistics in order to take account of the new conditions
on the internal market after 1992; whereas it will be
necessary to review inter alia the definition of their
content, the goods classification applicable to them and
the list of data to be collected to compile them; whereas        (') OJ No L 285, 25. 10. 1985, p. 1.
it is desirable to adopt forthwith the principle on which        (2) OJ No L 183, 14. 7. 1975, p. 3.
the statistical thresholds shall operate;                        O OJ No L 147, 14. 6. 1988, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak--- 9. 10. 90                                Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 254/9
                             TITLE I                                    another without prior formalities or formalities
                                                                        linked to the crossing of internal frontiers;
                TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS
                                                                   (h) 'private individual' means any natural person not
                           Chapter I                                    liable to account for VAT in connection with a given
                                                                        movement of goods.
                        General provisions
                             Article 2                                                        Article 3
For the purposes of this Title and without prejudice to             1.    All goods which move from one Member State to
any individual provisions:                                         another shall be the subject of statistics relating to the
                                                                   trading of goods between Member States.
(a) 'trading of goods between Member States' means
     any movement of goods from one Member State to                In addition to the goods which move within the stat-
     another;                                                      istical territory of the Community, goods shall be
                                                                   considered as moving from one Member State to another
(b) 'goods' means all movable property;                            if, in so doing, they cross the external frontier of the
                                                                   Community, whether or not they subsequently enter the
(c) 'Community goods' means goods:                                 territory of a non-member State.
     — entirely obtained in the customs territory of the
          Community, without the addition of goods from            2.     Paragraph 1 shall apply both to non-Community
          non-member countries or territories which are            and Community goods whether or not they are the
          not part of the customs territory of the                 subject of a commercial transaction.
          Community,
     — from countries or territories not forming part of                                      Article 4
          the customs territory of the Community which              1.    Of the goods referred to in Article 3:
          have been released for free circulation in a
          Member State,
                                                                   (a) shall be the subject of transit statistics: those which
     — obtained in the customs territory of the                         are transported, with or without transhipment, across
          Community either from the goods referred to                   a Member State without being stored there for
          exclusively in the second indent or from the                  reasons not inherent in their transport;
          goods referred to in the first and second indents;
                                                                   (b) shall be the subject of storage statistics: those
(d) 'non-Community goods' means goods other than                        referred to in Article 2, second paragraph, of Regu-
     those referred to in (c). Without prejudice to the                 lation (EEC) No 1736/75, as well as those which
     agreements concluded with non-member countries                     enter or leave storage facilities determined by the
     for the implementation of the Community transit                    Commission in accordance with Article 56;
     arrangements, goods which, while fulfilling the
     conditions laid down in (c), are reintroduced into the
                                                                   (c) shall be the subject of statistics of trade between
     customs territory7 of the Community after export
                                                                        Member States: those which do not meet the
     therefrom are also considered as non-Community
                                                                        conditions of (a) and (b) or which, while meeting
     goods;
                                                                        either of those conditions, are expressly singled out
                                                                        by this Title or by the Commission pursuant to
(e) 'Member State', when the term is used in the                        Article 56;
     geographical sense, means its statistical territory;
(f) 'statistical territory of a Member State' means the            (d) the Council, on a proposal from the Commission,
     territory occupied by this Member State within the                 shall determine the goods that are to be the subject
     statistical territory of the Community, as this latter is          of other statistics relating to the trading of goods
     defined in Article 3 of Regulation (EEC) No                        between Member States.
      1736/75;
                                                                   2.     Without prejudice to Community provisions on
(g) 'goods in free movement on the internal market of              statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods, the
     the Community' means goods authorized, pursuant               data on the movement of goods subject to the statistics
     to     the     provisions      of   Council     Directive     referred to in paragraph 1 shall be included, as required,
     77/388/EEC ('), to move from one Member State to              in the list of data relating to each of these categories of
                                                                   statistics on the conditions and terms laid down by this
(') OJ No L 145, 13. 6. 1977, p. 1.                                Regulation or by the Commission pursuant to Article 56.
 ---pagebreak---  No C 254/10                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                 9. 10. 90
                            Article 5                                 (b) to transit and storage statistics, in accordance with
                                                                           the provisions laid down by the Council on a
 Without prejudice to Article 15, private individuals shall                proposal from the Commission pursuant to
 be exempt from the obligations implied by the prepa-                      Article 57.
 ration of the statistics referred to in Article 4.
                                                                      5.     Barring a decision to the contrary by the Council
 This exemption shall also apply to the party responsible
                                                                      on a proposal from the Commission taken no later than
 for providing the information who, being liable to
                                                                      31 December 1991, in particular pursuant to Article 57,
 account for VAT, qualifies, in the Member State in
                                                                      the national provisions on the statistics referred to in
 which he is responsible for providing the information,
                                                                      paragraph 4, in so far as they relate to data collection,
 for one of the special systems provided for by Articles 24
                                                                      shall cease to apply after 31 December 1992.
 and 25 of Directive 77/388/EEC.
 This provision shall be extended mutatis mutandis to                                           Article 8
 institutional parties not liable to account for VAT and to
 parties exempt from VAT, pursuant to Article 28 (b) and             Without prejudice to Article 5, the obligation to supply
 (c) of the abovementioned Directive.                                the information required by the Intrastat system shall be
                                                                      incumbent on any natural or legal person who is
                                                                     involved in the trading of goods between Member States.
                          C h a p t e r II
                                                                     Among those incurring this obligation, the party
                 Statistical collection system                       responsible for providing information for each form of
                           (Intrastat)                               statistics covered by the Intrastat system shall be
                                                                     designated by the relevant specific provisions.
                            Article 6
With a view to compiling the statistics relating to the                                         Article 9
trading of goods between Member States, a statistical
collection system shall be set up, hereinafter referred to            1.    The party responsible for providing the information
as the Intrastat system.                                             required by the Intrastat system may transfer the task of
                                                                     providing the information to a third party residing in a
                                                                     Member State, but such transfer will in no way reduce
                            Article 7                                the responsibility of the said party.
 1.    The Intrastat system shall be applied in the Member
States whenever they are deemed to be partner countries              The pany responsible for providing information shall
in the trading of goods between Member States by virtue              provide this third party with all the information
of the provisions of paragraph 4.                                    necessary to fulfil his obligations as party responsible.
2.     The Intrastat system shall be applied to the goods            2.     Paragraph 1 shall apply provided that the periodic
referred to in Article 3:                                            declaration referred to in Article 13 (1) is separate from
                                                                     the periodic declaration required for tax purposes.
(a) which are in free movement on the internal market
     of the Community;
                                                                     3.     The implementing rules for paragraphs 1 and 2
                                                                     shall be laid down by the Commission pursuant to
(b) which, since they may move on the internal market                Article 56.
     of the Community only after completion of the
     formalities prescribed by Community legislation on
     the circulation of goods, are expressly designated                                        Article 10
     either by this Regulation or by the Commission
     pursuant to Article 56.                                         1.     Member States shall take the measures necessary to
                                                                     compile a register in which they shall list up to
                                                                     31 December 1992 upon dispatch the consignors, upon
3.     The collection of data on the goods referred to in
                                                                     arrival the consignees and where necessary the
Article 3 to which the Intrastat system does not apply
                                                                     declarants, within the meaning of Commission Regu-
shall be regulated by the Commission pursuant to Article
                                                                     lation (EEC) No 2792/86 0 , who are involved from
56 within the framework of the formalities referred to in
                                                                     1 January 1991 to 31 December 1992 in trade between
paragraph 2 (b).                                                     Member States, referred to hereinafter as intra-
                                                                     Community operators.
4.     The Intrastat system shall apply:
(a) to the statistics of trade between Member States,
     pursuant to Articles 17 to 28;                                  O OJ No L 263, 15. 9. 1986, p. 59.
 ---pagebreak--- 9. 10. 90                               Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 254/11
2.     The list of minimum data to be recorded in the             (a) parties liable to account for VAT who have declared
register of intra-Community operators in addition to the                that, during the period in question, they have
identification number referred to in paragraph 5 shall be               conducted trading of goods between Member States
laid down by the Commission pursuant to Article 56.                     which, although not resulting from sales or
                                                                        purchases, is the object of their periodic tax
                                                                        declaration;
3.     Where required, the Commission shall draw up, in
accordance wiht Article 56, the rules relating to the
management and updating of the register of intra-                  (b) institutional parties not liable to account for VAT
Community operators to be applied by the Member                         and parties exempt from VAT who have declared
States.                                                                 that, during the same period, they have conducted
                                                                        trading of goods between Member States for which
                                                                        they have authorization.
4.      Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall not apply to those
Member States which take measures to make available
for their use by 1 January 1993 at the latest:
                                                                   3.     For each operator listed, shall be provided the value
                                                                   of trading of goods which the operator has mentioned in
(a) a register of parties liable to account for VAT who            his periodic tax declaration in accordance with Article 22
      have, during the 12 months prior to this date, taken         (4) of Directive 77/388/EEC.
      part in the trading of goods between Member States,
      either as consignors or as consignees; and
                                                                   4.     Under restricted conditions, which the Commission
(b) a register of institutional parties not liable to account      shall determine pursuant to Article 56, the Member
      for VAT and of parties exempt from VAT who,                  State's departments responsible for VAT collection shall
      from this date, are obliged to carry out their               in addition furnish the departments in their own Member
      acquisitions, within the meaning of Directive                State responsible for compiling statistics relating to the
      77/388/EEC, in compliance with the provisions of             trading of goods between Member States, on their own
      Article 28 (b) and (c) of this Directive.                    initiative or at the request of the latter, with any infor-
                                                                   mation capable of improving the quality of statistics
                                                                   which those liable to account for VAT normally submit
 In those Member States which take the measures
                                                                   to the first-mentioned departments to comply with tax
 referred to in subparagraph 1, the departments
                                                                   requirements.
 responsible for VAT collection shall make these registers
 accessible to the departments responsible for compiling
statistics relating to the trading of goods between
 Member States under the conditions required for                   5.     Whatever the administrative organization of the
 application of the present Regulation which the                   Member State, the party responsible for providing stat-
 Commission shall determine, where necessary, pursuant             istical information can be compelled to justify the infor-
 to Article 56.                                                    mation he supplies in comparison with the data he
                                                                   communicates to the departments responsible for VAT
                                                                   collection only within the limits laid down by paragraphs
 5.     Apart from exceptions which they shall justify to          1, 2 and 3 and pursuant to paragraph 4.
 the parties responsible for providing statistical infor-
 mation, the departments responsible for compiling stat-
 istics on the trading of goods between Member States              6.     In the instructions to persons liable to account for
 shall use in their relations with those parties, and in           VAT regarding the periodic declaration which such
 particular with a view to application of Article 13 (1), the      persons must address to them, the departments in a
 identification number which the departments responsible           Member State responsible for VAT collection shall draw
 for collecting VAT shall allocate to those parties.               attention, according to the rules adopted by the
                                                                   Commission pursuant to Article 56, to the obligations
                                                                   they may incur as parties responsible for providing the
                           Article 11                              information required by the Intrastat system.
 1.     The Member State's departments responsible for
 VAT collection shall, at least once every three months,
                                                                   7.     For the application of paragraphs 4 and 6 'parties
 furnish the departments in that Member State responsible
                                                                   liable to account for VAT' shall also mean institutional
 for compiling statistics relating to the trading of goods
                                                                   parties not liable to account for VAT and parties exempt
 between Member States with the lists of those liable to
                                                                   from VAT, within the meaning of Article 28 (b) and (c)
 account for VAT who, in the period under review, have
                                                                   of Directive 77/388/EEC.
 declared that they have made purchases in other Member
 States or sales to other Member States.
                                                                   8.     Administrative     assistance     between     national
 2.     The lists referred to in paragraph 1 shall also            departments of different Member States responsible for
 include:                                                          compiling statistics relating to the trading of goods
 ---pagebreak---   No C 254/12                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                    9. 10. 90
  between Member States shall, as necessary, be regulated                                    C h a p t e r III
  by the Commission pursuant to Article 56.
                                                                             Statistics on trade between Member States
                             Article 12                                                        Article 17
  The statistical information media required by the                  1.    Statistics on trade between Member States shall
  Intrastat system shall be set up by the Commission                 cover, on the one hand, movements of goods leaving the
  pursuant to Article 56, in respect of each category of             Member State of dispatch and, on the other, movements
  statistics relating to the trading of goods between                of goods entering the Member State of arrival.
  Member States.
                                                                     2.    For the purposes of statistics on trade between
                             Article 13                              Member States, electric current shall be considered as
                                                                     goods.
  1.     The statistical information required by the Intrastat
  system shall be covered in periodic declarations to be
  sent by the party responsible for providing the infor-
  mation to the competent national departments, by                                             Article 18
  deadlines and under conditions which the Commission
                                                                     1.    The Member State of dispatch shall be the Member
  shall lay down pursuant to Article 56.
                                                                     State in which the goods leaving it are the subject of a
                                                                     dispatch.
  2.     The Commission        shall determine, pursuant     to
 Article 56:
                                                                     Dispatch for the purposes of this Title shall be taken to
                                                                    mean the shipment of goods referred to in paragraph 2
 — where not laid down by this Regulation, the                      to a destination in another Member State.
      reference period applicable to each category of stat-
      istics relating to the trading of goods between
      Member States,                                                2.     In a given Member State the following may be the
                                                                    subject of a dispatch:
 — the procedures for the transmission of the infor-
      mation, especially with a view to making available to
      the parties responsible for providing information             (a) Community goods, which are not in direct or inter-
      networks of regional data collection offices.                      rupted transit in that Member State, unless they have
                                                                         been placed in free circulation there;
                             Article 14
                                                                    (b) non-Community goods placed, maintained or
 Any party responsible for providing statistical infor-                  obtained in that Member State under inward
 mation who does not fulfil his obligations under this                   processing     customs       arrangements     or   under
 Regulation shall be liable to the penalties which the                   arrangements for processing under customs control.
 Member States shall lay down in accordance with their
 relevant national provisions.
                                                                                              Article 19
                            Article 15                              The Member State of arrival shall be the Member State
The Commission may organize, under conditions which                 in which the goods which enter it are:
 it shall determine pursuant to Article 56, periodic surveys
on the trading of goods between Member States by                    (a) as Community goods, not there in direct or inter-
private individuals and on movements of goods or on                      rupted transit;
intra-Community operators excluded from the returns
under specific provisions relating to the various statistics
on the trading of goods.                                            (b) as non-Community goods, referred to in Article 18
                                                                         (2)(b):
                            Article 16
                                                                         1. placed in free circulation there,
The Commission shall report to the Council on the func-
tioning of the Intrastat system for each category of stat-
istics relating to the trading of goods between Member                   2. maintained under inward processing customs
States covered by the Intrastat system, with a view to the                  arrangements      or     under     arrangements    for
possible adaptation of this system at the end of the                        processing under customs control or again made
transition period referred to in Article 1 (2).                             subject to such arrangements.
 ---pagebreak--- 9. 10. 90                                Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 254/13
                           Article 20                                                         Article 21
With a view to collecting the data required for the stat-           On the statistical data medium to be transmitted to the
istics of trade between Member States, the provisions of            competent departments:
Chapter II (Intrastat) shall be supplemented as follows:
                                                                    — goods shall be designated in such a way as to permit
                                                                        easy and precise classification in the finest relevant
 1. without prejudice to Article 60, the Intrastat system               subdivision of the version of the combined nomen-
     shall apply to the goods referred to in Articles 18 (2)            clature in force at the time,
     (a) and 19 (a);
                                                                   — the eight-digit code number of the corresponding
                                                                        subdivision of the combined nomenclature shall also
2. the partner countries in trading of goods between                    be given for each type of goods.
     Member States within the meaning of Article 7 (1)
     shall be the Member State of dispatch and the
     Member State of arrival;                                                                 Article 22
                                                                    1.    On the statistical data medium, the Member States
3. within the Intrastat system, the Member State of                 shall be described by the alphabetical or numerical codes
    dispatch shall be defined as that in which the goods           which the Commission shall determine pursuant to
    which are dispatched from there to another Member              Article 56.
     State come under the terms of Article 18 (2) (a);
                                                                    2.    Without prejudice to the provisions adopted by the
                                                                    Commission pursuant to Article 56, the parties
4. within the Intrastat system, the Member State of                responsible for providing information shall comply, for
    arrival shall be defined as that in which the goods            the purposes of paragraph 1, with the instructions issued
    which enter from another Member State come under               by the competent national departments regarding the
    the terms of Article 19 (a);                                   compiling of statistics on trade between Member States.
5. the party responsible for providing the information
                                                                                              Article 23
    referred to in Article 8 shall be the natural or legal
    person who                                                      1.    For each kind of goods, the statistical data medium
                                                                   to be transmitted to the competent departments must
                                                                   provide the following data:
    (a) residing in the Member State of dispatch:
         — has concluded the contract, with the exception          (a) in the Member State of arrival, the Member State of
             of transport contracts, giving rise to the                 consignment of the goods, within the meaning of
             dispatch of goods or, failing this,                        Article 24 (1);
         — dispatches or provides for the dispatch of the          (b) in the Member State of dispatch: the Member State
             goods or, failing this,                                    of destination of the goods, within the meaning of
                                                                        Article 24 (2);
         — is in possession of the goods which are the
             subject of the dispatch;
                                                                   (c) the quantity of goods,            in  net   mass   and
                                                                        supplementary units;
    (b) residing in the Member State of arrival:
                                                                   (d) the value of the goods;
         — has concluded the contract, with the exception
             of transport contracts, giving rise to the            (e) the nature of the transaction;
             delivery of goods or, failing this,
         — takes possession or provides for possession to          (f) the delivery terms;
             be taken of the goods or, failing this
                                                                   (g) the presumed mode of transport.
         — is in possession of the goods which are the
             subject of the delivery;                              2.     Member States may not prescribe that data other
                                                                   than those listed in paragraph 1 be provided on the stat-
6. the Commission shall adopt the provisions provided              istical data medium, except for the following:
    for in Article 7 (3) by 1 July 1991;
                                                                   (a) in the Member State of arrival, the third country of
                                                                        origin; however, this item may be required only as
7. the reference period referred to in the first indent of              allowed by Community law;
    Article 13 (2) shall be the calendar month during
    which the movements of goods to be recorded                    (b) in the Member State of dispatch, the region of
    pursuant to this Article, as appropriate, commence or               production; in the Member State of arrival, the
    are completed.                                                      region of destination;
 ---pagebreak---   No C 254/14                          Official Journal of the European Communities                                  9. 10. 90
 (c) in the Member State of dispatch, the port of loading;         having regard to such provisions as the Commission may
      in the Member State of arrival, the port of                  adopt pursuant to Article 56 on general and specific
      unloading.                                                   exemptions and the statistical thresholds.
 3.     In so far as not laid down in this Title, the data
                                                                   4.    Any provision which has the effect of excluding
 referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 and the rules
                                                                  goods referred to in Articles 18 and 19 from the compi-
 governing their inclusion on the statistical data medium,
                                                                   lation of the statistics of trade between Member States
 shall be defined by the Commission pursuant to Article
                                                                  shall suspend the obligation to supply statistical infor-
 56.
                                                                  mation on the goods thus excluded.
                          Article 24
                                                                                            Article 26
  1.    When, before reaching the Member State of arrival,
 goods have entered one or more countries in transit and           1.    Member States shall transmit to the Commission
 have been subject in those countries to halts or legal           without delay, and at the latest six weeks after the end of
 operations not inherent in their transport, the Member           the reference month, the monthly statistics on trade
 State of consignment shall be taken to be the last               between Member States. These statistics shall cover the
 Member State where such halts or legal operations                data referred to in Article 23 (1).
 occurred. In other cases, the Member State of
 consignment shall be the same as the Member State of
 dispatch.                                                        2.     Where necessary the procedure for such trans-
                                                                  mission shall be laid down by the Commission pursuant
                                                                  to Article 56.
 2.     Member State of destination shall be taken to mean
 the last countryr to which it is known, at the time of
 dispatch, that the goods are to be dispatched.
                                                                  3.     Data declared confidential by the Member States
                                                                  under the conditions referred to in Article 58 shall be
 3.    Notwithstanding Article 23 (1) (a), the party              transmitted by them in accordance with Council Regu-
 responsible for providing information in the Member              lation (Euratom, EEC) No 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on
 State of arrival may, in the following order:                    the transmission of data subject to statistical confiden-
                                                                  tiality to the Statistical Office of the European
 — if he does not know the Member State of                        Communities (*).
     consignment, state the Member State of dispatch;
— if he does not know the Member State of dispatch,                                         Article 27
     state the Member State of purchase, within the
                                                                  Provisions regarding the simplification of statistical
     meaning of paragraph 4;
                                                                 information shall be adopted by the Council on a
                                                                 proposal from the Commission.
— if there is no country of purchase, state 'Member
     State unknown'.
                                                                                            Article 28
4.     The Member State of purchase shall be taken to
mean the Member State of residence of the contracting             1.     Parties liable to account for VAT, institutional
partner of the natural or legal person who has concluded         parties not liable to account for VAT and parties exempt
the contract, with the exception of transport contracts,         from VAT who, falling below thresholds laid down
giving rise to the deliver}' of goods in the Member State        pursuant to Articles 24, 25 and 28 (b) of Directive
of arrival.                                                      77/388/EEC, qualify for the exemption referred to in
                                                                 Article 5 shall be exempted from the obligations which
                                                                 would devolve upon them, as parties responsible for
                         Article 25                              providing the statistical information, from the compi-
                                                                 lation of statistics of trade between Member States.
 1.    The Community and the Member States shall
compile statistics on trade between Member States from
the data referred to in Article 23 (1).                          2.      Pursuant to Article 56, the Commission shall lay
                                                                 down value thresholds below which:
2.     Member States which do not compile statistics on
trade between Member States from the data referred to
                                                                 (a) the tax return shall be considered to be the statistical
in Article 23 (2) shall refrain from ordering the
                                                                       return;
collection of such data.
3.     The Community and the Member States shall
compile the statistics on trade between Member States,           (') OJ No L 151, 15. 6. 1990, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak--- 9. 10. 90                               Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 254/15
(b) the provisions of the present Regulation concerning           (f) 'statistical territory of a Member State' means the
    the return shall be simplified in accordance with                   territory occupied by this Member State within the
    procedures which the Commission shall determine.                    statistical territory of the Community, as this latter is
                                                                        defined in Article 3 of Regulation (EEC) No
These thresholds may vary from one Member State to                      1736/75;
another, by product group and by period.
                                                                   (g) 'goods in free movement on the internal market of
                                                                        the Community' means goods complying with the
3.    The thresholds referred to in paragraph 1 above                   conditions or the market of any Member State;
shall be known as exclusion thresholds, and those
mentioned in paragraph 2 above as simplification thre-
                                                                   (h) 'goods produced in a specific Member State' means,
sholds.
                                                                        in addition to goods produced there, compensating
                                                                        Community goods which have undergone processing
                                                                        there;
                          TITLE II
                 DEFINITIVE PROVISIONS                             (i) 'intermediary' means any natural or legal person
                                                                        situated in the chain of trade in goods upstream or
                        Chapter 1                                       downstream, as the case may be, of the party
                                                                        responsible for providing statistical information;
                     General provisions
                                                                   (j) 'private individual' means any natural person not
                         Article 29                                     liable to account for VAT in connection with a given
                                                                        movement of goods.
For the purposes of this Title and without prejudice to
any individual provisions:
                                                                                               Article 30
(a) 'trading of goods between Member States' means                 1.     All goods which move from one Member State to
     any movement of goods from one Member State to                another shall be the subject of statistics relating to the
     another;                                                      trading of goods between Member States.
(b) 'goods' means all movable property;                            In addition to the goods which move within the stat-
                                                                   istical territory of the Community, goods shall be
(c) 'Community goods' means goods:                                 considered as moving from one Member State to another
                                                                   if, in so doing, they cross the external frontier of the
     — entirely obtained in the customs territory of the           Community, whether or not they subsequently enter the
         Community, without the addition of goods from             territory of a non-member State.
         non-member countries or territories which are
         not part of the customs territory of the                  2.     Paragraph 1 shall apply both to non-Community
         Community,                                                and Community goods whether or not they are the
     — from countries or territories not forming part of           subject of a commercial transaction.
         the customs territory of the Community which
         have been released for free circulation in a
         Member State,                                                                         Article 31
     — obtained in the customs territory of the                     1.    Of the goods referred to in Article 30:
         Community either from the goods referred to
         exclusively in the second indent or from the              (a) shall be the subject of transit statistics: those which
         goods referred to in the first and second indents;             are transported, with or without transhipment, across
                                                                        a Member State without being stored there for
(d) 'non-Community goods' means goods other than                        reasons not inherent in their transport;
     those referred to in (c). Without prejudice to the
     agreements concluded with non-member countries                (b) shall be the subject of storage statistics: those
     for the implementation of the Community transit                    referred to in Article 2 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No
     arrangements, goods which, while fulfilling the                     1736/75, as well as those which enter or leave
     conditions laid down in (c), are reintroduced into the             storage facilities determined by the Commission in
     customs territory of the Community after export                    accordance with Article 56;
     therefrom are also considered as non-Community
     goods;                                                        (c) shall be the subject of statistics of trade between
                                                                        Member States: those which do not meet the
(e) 'Member State', when the term is used in the                        conditions of (a) and (b) or which, while meeting
     geographical sense, means its statistical territory;               either of those conditions, are expressly singled out
 ---pagebreak---   No C 254/16                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                  9. 10. 90
       by this Regulation or by the Commission pursuant to              4.    The Intrastat system shall apply:
      Article 56;
                                                                        (a) to the statistics of trade between Member States,
  (d) the Council, on a proposal from the Commission,                       pursuant to Articles 44 to 54;
       shall determine the goods that are to be the subject
       of other statistics relating to the trading of goods            (b) to transit and storage statistics, in accordance Vith
       between Member States.                                               the provisions laid down by the Council on a
                                                                            proposal from the Commission pursuant to
                                                                            Article 57.
 2.     Without prejudice to Community provisions on
 statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods, the
 data on the movement of goods subject to the statistics               5.     Barring a decision to the contrary by the Council
 referred to in paragraph 1 shall be included, as required,            on a proposal from the Commission taken no later than
 in the list of data relating to each of these categories of           31 December 1991, in particular pursuant to Article 57,
 statistics on the conditions and terms laid down by this              the national provisions on the statistics referred to in
 Regulation or by the Commission pursuant to Article 56.               paragraph 4, in so far as they relate to data collection,
                                                                       shall cease to apply after 31 December 1992.
                            Article 32
                                                                                                Article 35
 Without prejudice to Article 42, private individuals shall
 be exempt from the obligations implied by the prepa-                  Without prejudice to Article 32, the obligation to supply
 ration of the statistics referred to in Article 31.                   the information required by the Intrastat system shall be
                                                                       incumbent on any natural or legal person who is
                                                                       involved in the trading of goods between Member States.
                           C h a p t e r II
                                                                      Among those incurring this obligation, the party
                  Statistical collection system                        responsible for providing information for each form of
                            (Intrastat)                                statistics covered by the Intrastat system shall be
                                                                       designated by the relevant specific provisions.
                            Article 33
 With a view to compiling the statistics relating to the                                        Article 36
 trading of goods between Member States, a statistical
                                                                       1.     The party responsible for providing the information
 collection system shall be set up, hereinafter referred to
                                                                      required by the Intrastat system may transfer the task of
 as the Intrastat system.
                                                                      providing the information to a third party residing in a
                                                                      Member State, but such transfer will in no way reduce
                            Article 34                                the responsibility of the said party.
 1.     The Intrastat system shall be applied in the Member           The party responsible for providing information shall
 States whenever they are deemed to be partner countries              provide this third party with all the information
in the trading of goods between Member States by virtue               necessary to fulfil his obligations as party responsible.
of the provisions of paragraph 4.
                                                                      2.      On the first occasion that a party responsible for
2.      The Intrastat system shall be applied to the goods            providing information who is not liable to account for
referred to in Article 30:                                            VAT transfers this task of providing information to a
                                                                      third party, he shall make this fact known without delay
(a) which are in free movement on the internal market                 to the competent national departments, unless these
      of the Community;                                               departments have previously specifically exempted him
                                                                      from the obligation to make the fact known.
(b) which, since they may move on the internal market
     of the Community only after completion of the                    3.     If an intermediary is immediately downstream or
     formalities prescribed by Community legislation on               upstream of a party responsible for providing infor-
     the circulation of goods, are expressly designated               mation who is not liable to account for VAT, then the
     either by this Regulation or by the Commission                   intermediary shall pass to him a copy of the instructions
     pursuant to Article 56.                                          to parties responsible for providing information which
                                                                      are supplied to intermediaries for this purpose by the
                                                                      competent national departments.
3.      The collection of data on the goods referred to in
Article 30 to which the Intrastat system does not apply
shall be regulated by the Commission pursuant to Article             4.      The implementing rules for paragraphs 1, 2 and 3
56 within the framework of the formalities referred to in            shall be laid down by the Commission pursuant to
paragraph 2 (b).                                                     Article 56.
 ---pagebreak--- 9. 10. 90                               Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 254/17
                          Article 37                              Failing that, the departments responsible for compiling
                                                                  statistics relating to the trading of goods between
 1.    Member States shall take the measures necessary to         Member States shall allocate to intra-Community
compile a register in which they shall list up to 31              operators an identifying code number and shall inform
December 1992 upon dispatch the consignors, upon                  the operators of their code number in time for them to
arrival the consignees and where necessary the                    comply with the provisions of Article 40 (1) using this
declarants, within the meaning of Commission Regu-                number.
lation (EEC) No 2792/86 (*), who are involved from
 1 January 1991 to 31 December 1992 in trade between
Member States, referred to hereinafter as intra-                                            Article 38
Community operators.
                                                                   1.    The Member State's departments responsible for
                                                                  VAT collection shall, at least once every three months,
2.     The list of minimum data to be recorded in the             furnish the departments in that Member State responsible
register of intra-Community operators in addition to the          for compiling statistics relating to the trading of goods
identification number referred to in paragraph 5 shall be         between Member States with:
laid down by the Commission pursuant to Article 56.
                                                                  (a) the list of those liable to account for VAT who, in
3.     Where required, the Commission shall draw up, in                the period under review, have declared that they
accordance with Article 56, the rules relating to the                  have been charged VAT arising out of purchases in
management and updating of the register of intra-                      other Member States;
Community operators to be applied by the Member
States.                                                           (b) the list of those liable to account for VAT who, in
                                                                       the period under review, have declared that they
4.     Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall not apply to those                  have charged VAT following sales in other Member
Member States which take measures to make available                    States.
for their use by 1 January 1993 at the latest:
                                                                  2.     Under restricted conditions, which the Commission
(a) a register of parties liable to account for VAT who           shall determine pursuant to Article 56 the Member
     have, during the 12 months prior to this date, taken         State's departments responsible for VAT collection shall
     part in the trading of goods between Member States,          in addition furnish the departments in their own Member
      either as consignors or as consignees; and                  State responsible for compiling statistics relating to the
                                                                  trading of goods between Member States, on their own
(b) a register of institutional parties not liable to account     initiative or at the request of the latter, with any infor-
     for VAT and of parties exempt from VAT who,                  mation capable of improving the quality of statistics
     from this date, are obliged to carry out their               which those liable to account for VAT normally submit
     acquisitions, within the meaning of Directive                to the first-mentioned departments to comply with tax
     77/388/EEC, in compliance with the provisions of             requirements.
     Article 28 (b) and (c) of this Directive.
                                                                  3.     Whatever the administrative organization of the
In those Member States which take the measures                    Member State, the party responsible for providing stat-
referred to in the previous subparagraph the departments          istical information can be compelled to justify the infor-
responsible for VAT collection shall make these registers         mation he supplies in comparison with the data he
accessible to the derpartments responsible for compiling          communicates to the departments responsible for VAT
statistics relating to the trading of goods between               collection only within the limits laid down by paragraph
Member States under the conditions required for                    1 and pursuant to paragraph 2.
application of the present Regulation which the
Commission shall determine, where necessary, pursuant
to Article 56.                                                    4.     In the instructions to persons liable to account for
                                                                  VAT regarding the periodic declaration which such
                                                                  persons must address to them, the departments in a
5.     Apart from exceptions which they shall justify to          Member State responsible for VAT collection shall draw
the parties responsible for providing statistical infor-          attention, according to the rules adopted by the
mation, the departments responsible for compiling stat-           Commission pursuant to Article 56 to the obligations
istics on the trading of goods between Member States              they may incur as parties responsible for providing the
shall use in their relations with those parties, and in           information required by the Intrastat system.
particular with a view to application of Article 40 (1), the
identification number which the departments responsible
for collecting VAT shall allocate to those parties.               5.     Administrative     assistance   between     national
                                                                  departments of different Member States responsible for
                                                                  compiling statistics relating to the trading of goods
                                                                  between Member States shall, as necessary, be regulated
(') OJ No L 263, 15. 9. 1986, p. 59.                              by the Commission pursuant to Article 56.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 254/18                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                    9. 10. 90
                          Article 39                                                        Article 43
The statistical information media required by the                The Commission shall report to the Council on the func-
Intrastat system shall be set up by the Commission               tioning of the Intrastat system for each category of stat-
pursuant to Article 56 in respect of each category of stat-      istics relating to the trading of goods between Member
istics relating to the trading of goods between Member           States covered by the Intrastat system within six months
States.                                                          of the annual results for the second year of operation of
                                                                 the said system following the end of the transition period
                                                                 referred to in Article 1 (2) being made available to the
                          Article 40                             Commission by the Member States.
1.     Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 2
the statistical information required by the Intrastat
system shall be supplied by the party responsible to the                                  C h a p t e r III
competent national departments, within the time limits
set up by the Commission pursuant to Article 56.                          Statistics on trade between Member States
                                                                                            Article 44
2.     The party responsible is, on his request, authorized
by these departments to transmit this information by              1.    Statistics on trade between Member States shall
means of 'global' declarations which combine the                 cover, on the one hand, movements of goods leaving the
movements of goods incurring obligations on his part             Member State of dispatch and, on the other, movements
under the Intrastat system during a specific period.             of goods entering the Member State of arrival.
3.     Member States shall inform the Commission of the          2.     For the purposes of statistics on trade between
conditions laid down by them under which the authori-            Member States, electric current shall be considered as
zation requested in paragraph 2 will be granted.                 goods.
Pursuant to Article 56 the Commission shall adopt such
provisions as it deems necessary in this connection.
                                                                                            Article 45
4.     The Commission       shall determine, pursuant     to      1.    The Member State of dispatch shall be the Member
Article 56:                                                      State in which the goods leaving it are the subject of a
                                                                 dispatch.
— where not laid down by this Regulation, the
     reference period applicable to each category of stat-       Dispatch for the purposes of this Title shall be taken to
     istics relating to the trading of goods between             mean the shipment of goods referred to in paragraph 2
     Member States,                                              to a destination in another Member State.
— the procedures for the transmission of the infor-
     mation, especially with a view to making available to       2.     In a given Member State the following may be the
     the parties responsible for providing information           subject of a dispatch:
     networks of regional data collection offices.
                                                                 (a) Community goods:
                          Article 41                                   1. which comply with the conditions of the market
                                                                          of that Member State;
Any party responsible for providing statistical infor-
mation who does not fulfil his obligations under this                 2. which do not comply with the conditions of the
Regulation shall be liable to the penalties which the                     market of that Member State but:
Member States shall lay down in accordance with their                     — have been produced there,
relevant national provisions.
                                                                          — have been placed in premises under the
                                                                              control of the tax authorities, in so far as their
                          Article 42                                          case is provided for in the specific provisions
                                                                              adopted by the Commission pursuant to
The Commission may organize, under conditions which                           Article 56;
it shall determine pursuant to Article 56, periodic surveys
on the trading of goods between Member States by
private individuals and on movements of goods or on              (b) non-Community goods placed, maintained or
intra-Community operators excluded from the returns                   obtained in that Member State under inward
under specific provisions relating to the various statistics          processing      customs       arrangements   or     under
on the trading of goods,                                              arrangements for processing under customs control.
 ---pagebreak--- 9. 10. 90                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 254/19
                           Article 46                             5. the party responsible for providing the information
                                                                      referred to in Article 35 shall be the natural or legal
The Member State of arrival shall be the Member State                 person who
in which the goods which enter it are:
                                                                      (a) residing in the Member State of dispatch:
(a) as Community goods:                                                    — has concluded the contract, with the exception
                                                                               of transport contracts, giving rise to the
      1. introduced without formalities onto its market;                       dispatch of goods or, failing this,
                                                                           — dispatches or provides for the dispatch of the
     2. released for consumption;                                              goods or, failing this,
                                                                           — is in possession of the goods which are the
     3. placed under inward processing arrangements of a                        subject of the dispatch;
         tax nature with a view to subsequent export;
                                                                      (b) residing in the Member State of arrival:
     4. placed in premises under the control of the tax                    — has concluded the contract, with the exception
         authorities, under the conditions laid down in the                     of transport contracts, giving rise to the
         second indent of Article 45 (2) (a) (2);                               delivery of goods or, failing this,
                                                                           — takes possession or provides for possession to
(b) as non-Community goods, referred to in Article 45                          be taken of the goods or, failing this
     (2)(b):
                                                                           — is in possession of the goods which are the
                                                                                subject of the delivery;
      1. placed in free circulation there;
                                                                   6. the reference period referred to in the first indent of
     2. maintained under inward processing customs                    Article 40 (4) shall be the calendar month during
         arrangements      or under      arrangements     for         which the movements of goods to be recorded
         processing under customs control or again made               pursuant to this Article, as appropriate, commence or
         subject to such arrangements.                                are completed.
                           Article 47                                                         Article 48
With a view to collecting the data required for the stat-          1.    On the statistical data medium:
istics of trade between Member States, the provisions of
Chapter II (Intrastat) shall be supplemented as follows:          — goods shall be designated in such a way as to permit
                                                                       easy and precise classification in the finest relevant
                                                                       subdivision of the classification of goods applicable to
 1. without prejudice to Article 60, the Intrastat system              the statistics of trade between Member States;
    shall apply to the goods referred to in Articles 45 (2)
    (a) (1) and Article 46 (a) (1);
                                                                  — the code of the corresponding subdivision in the
                                                                       classification shall also be given for each type of
2. the partner countries in trading of goods between                   goods.
    Member States within the meaning of Article 34 (1)
    shall be the Member State of dispatch and the
                                                                   2.    The Commission shall adopt a Regulation pursuant
    Member State of arrival;
                                                                   to Article 56 establishing the classification referred to in
                                                                   paragraph 1 and laying down the rules under which the
                                                                   classification shall be managed by the Commission and
3. within the Intrastat system Member State of dispatch
                                                                   published annually.
    shall be defined as that in which the goods which are
    dispatched from there to another Member State come
    under the terms of Article 45 (2) (a) (1), in so far as        3.    The classification referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2
    they have been produced there, introduced without              shall be compatible with the nomenclature of the
    formalities onto its market or released for                    Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding
    consumption;                                                   System.
4. within the Intrastat system Member State of arrival             4.    Notwithstanding paragraph 1, the party responsible
    shall be defined as that in which Community goods              for providing information may use, for the purpose of
    from another Member State are introduced without               describing and coding goods, the goods classification
    formalities onto its market;                                   applicable to Community external trade statistics.
 ---pagebreak---   No C 254/20                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                  9. 10. 90
                           Article 49                              — if he does not know the Member State                    of
                                                                       consignment, state the Member State of dispatch,
  1.    On the statistical data medium, the Member States
 shall be described by the alphabetical or numerical codes
 which the Commission shall determine pursuant to
                                                                   — if he does not know the Member State of dispatch,
 Article 56.
                                                                       state the Member State of purchase, within the
                                                                       meaning of paragraph 4,
 2.     Without prejudice to the provisions adopted by the
 Commission pursuant to Article 56, the parties
 responsible for providing information shall comply, for           — if there is no country of purchase, state 'Member
 the purposes of paragraph 1, with the instructions issued             State unknown'.
 by the competent national departments regarding the
 compiling of statistics on trade between Member States.
                                                                   4.    The Member State of purchase shall be taken to
                           Article 50                              mean the Member State of residence of the contracting
                                                                   partner of the natural or legal person who has concluded
  1.   The following data must be given on the statistical         the contract, with the exception of transport contracts,
 data medium for each type of goods:                               giving rise to the delivery of goods in the Member State
                                                                   of arrival.
 (a) in the Member State of arrival: the Member State of
      consignment of the goods, within the meaning of
      Article 51 (1);
                                                                                            Article 52
 (b) in the Member State of dispatch: the Member State
                                                                   1.    The Community and the Member States shall
      of destination within the meaning of Article 51 (2);
                                                                   compile statistics on trade between Member States from
                                                                   the data referred to in Article 50 (1).
 (c) the quantity of the         goods,  in  net  mass   and
      supplementary units;
 (d) the value of the goods;                                       2.    The Community and the Member States shall
                                                                   compile the statistics on trade between Member States,
 (e) where appropriate, the statistical system.                    having regard to such provisions as the Commission may
                                                                   adopt pursuant to Article 56 on general and specific
The list of these data shall be amended by               the       exemptions and the statistical thresholds applicable
 Commission pursuant to Article 56 if it needs to         be      during the transition period referred to in Article 1 (2)
 supplemented, especially in accordance with Article      31      with a view to maintaining or increasing the said
 (2), so that it can become applicable at the end of     the      exemptions and the said thresholds at the end of this
transition period referred to in Article 1 (2).                   period.
2.     In so far as not laid down in this Regulation, the
data referred to in paragraph 1 and the rules governing           3.    Any provision which has the effect of excluding
their inclusion on the statistical data medium, shall be          goods referred to in Articles 45 and 46 from the compi-
defined by the Commission pursuant to Article 56.                 lation of the statistics of trade between Member States
                                                                  shall suspend the obligation to supply statistical infor-
                                                                  mation on the goods thus excluded.
                           Article 51
 1.    When, before reaching the Member State of arrival,
goods have entered one or more countries in transit and                                     Article 53
have been subject in those countries to halts or legal
operations not inherent in their transport, the Member             1.   Member States shall transmit to the Commission
State of consignment shall be taken to be the last                without delay, and at the latest six weeks after the end of
Member State where such halts or legal operations                 the reference month, the monthly statistics on trade
occurred. In other cases, the Member State of                     between Member States. These statistics shall cover the
consignment shall be the same as the Member State of              data referred to in Article 50 (1).
dispatch.
2.     Member State of destination shall be taken to mean         2.    Where necessary the procedure for such trans-
the last country to which it is known, at the time of             mission shall be laid down by the Commission pursuant
dispatch, that the goods are to be dispatched.                    to Article 56.
3.     Notwithstanding Article 50 (1) (a), the party
responsible for providing information in the Member               3.    Data declared confidential by the Member States
State of arrival may, in the following order:                     under the conditions referred to in Article 58 shall be
 ---pagebreak--- 9. 10. 90                              Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 254/21
transmitted by them in accordance with Council Regu-             or its Member States to compile the statistics other than
lation (Euratom, EEC) No 1588/90 C1).                            statistics of trade between Member States referred to in
                                                                 Articles 4 and 31.
                         Article 54
Provisions regarding the simplification of statistical                                     Article 58
information shall be adopted by the Commission
                                                                  1.    On a proposal from the Commission, the Council
pursuant to Article 56.
                                                                  shall decide on the conditions under which the Member
                                                                  States may declare data compiled in accordance with this
                         TITLE III                                Regulation, or the Regulations provided for herein, to be
                                                                  confidential.
Committee on Statistics Relating to the Trading of
             Goods Between Member States
                                                                  2.    Until these conditions have been laid down,
                                                                  Member States' provisions on this matter shall apply.
                         Article 55
 1.   A Committee on the Statistics Relating to the
Trading of Goods Between Member States, hereinafter                                        Article 59
called 'the Committee', is hereby established. It shall be       The Commission may, pursuant to Article 56, adopt
composed of representatives of the Member States and              measures which adapt those provided for in this Regu-
chaired by a Commission representative.                           lation to specific movements of goods within the
                                                                  meaning of the statistical regulations of the Community.
2.    The Committee        shall  draw   up    its rules  of
procedure.
                                                                                           Article 60
3.    The Committee may examine any question relating
to the implementation of this Regulation raised by its            In respect both of goods subject to the Intrastat system
chairman, either on his own initiative or at the request of       and of other goods, the Commission may, for the
the representative of a Member State.                             purpose of facilitating the task of the parties responsible
                                                                  for providing information, establish in accordance with
                         Article 56                               Article 56 simplified data collection procedures and in
                                                                  particular create the conditions for increased use of
 1.    The provisions required for the implementation of          automatic data processing and electronic data processing
this Regulation shall be adopted according to the                 and electronic data transmission.
procedure laid down in paragraph 2.
2.     The Commission representative shall submit to the                                   Article 61
Committee a proposal on the measures to be taken. The
Committee shall deliver an opinion on the proposal                1.    Regulation (EEC) No 2954/85 is hereby repealed
within a period set by the Chairman in accordance with            with effect from 1 January 1993 and Regulation (EEC)
the urgency of the matter in question, if necessary by            No 1736/75 shall cease to apply to the statistics of trade
means of a vote.                                                  in goods between Member States to which it was
                                                                  applicable, with effect from the same date.
The opinion shall be entered in the minutes; in addition,
each Member State shall have the right to request that its
position appear in the minutes.                                   2.    This Regulation shall enter into force on the third
                                                                  day following its publication in the Official Journal of the
The Commission shall take the fullest account of the              European Communities.
 opinion delivered by the Committee. It shall inform the
 Committee of the way in which it has taken the opinion
                                                                  Except in so far as they imply that the Council or the
 into account.
                                                                  Commission shall adopt provisions implementing this
                                                                  Regulation before that date, Articles 1 to 9, 11, 13 (1),
                          TITLE IV                                 14 to 27 and 28 (1) shall come into effect on 1 January
                                                                   1993 and Articles 29 to 36, 38, 40 (1), 41 to 47, 48 (1)
                      Final provisions                            and (4) and 49 to 54 shall come into effect at the end of
                                                                  the transition period referred to in Article 1 (2).
                          Article 57
 On a proposal from the Commission, the Council shall             This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
 adopt the provisions necessary to enable the Community           directly applicable in all Member States.
 (') OJ No L 151, 15. 6. 1990, p. 1.