Council Directive 98/94/EC of 14 December 1998 amending Directive 94/4/EC and extending the temporary derogation applicable to Germany and Austria

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 98/94/EC of 14 December 1998 amending Directive 94/4/EC and extending the temporary derogation applicable to Germany and Austria
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 99 thereof,
Having regard to the Commission proposal (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3),
Whereas Article 3(2) of Directive 94/4/EC (4) provided for the application until 31 December 1997 of a temporary derogation to the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Austria concerning the application of an allowance of not less than ECU 75 to goods imported by travellers entering German or Austrian territory by a land frontier linking the two Member States to countries other than Member States and EFTA members or, where applicable, by means of coastal navigation coming from those countries;
Whereas account is taken of the economic difficulties likely to be caused by the amount of the allowances applicable to travellers importing goods into the Community in the situations described above;
Whereas, by letters of 24 June and 23 July 1997, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Federal Republic of Austria requested an extension of the derogation provided for in Article 3(2) of Directive 94/4/EC; whereas their request is based on the fact that the economic difficulties that had prompted the adoption of Directives 94/4/EC and 94/75/EC had persisted and, in some cases, worsened;
Whereas account should be taken of the situation described by the two Member States;
Whereas an extension of the derogation should, however, be accompanied by the fixing of a deadline for bringing the allowance applied by Germany and Austria into line with that in force on that date in the other Member States, the raising of the limit applicable to the two Member States from 1 January 1999 in order to limit distortions of competition and an undertaking by those Member States that they will gradually and jointly further raise the limit in order to bring it into line with the Community limit by 1 January 2003,