Council Directive 2009/69/EC of 25 June 2009 amending Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax as regards tax evasion linked to imports

4.7.2009 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 175/12
COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2009/69/EC
of 25 June 2009
amending Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax as regards tax evasion linked to imports
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 93 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (2),
Whereas:
(1) The Council, in the conclusions of its meeting on economic and financial affairs of 28 November 2006, has agreed to establish an Anti-tax fraud strategy implemented at Community level, especially for tax fraud in the field of indirect taxation, in order to complement national efforts.
(2) Certain measures which have been discussed in that context require an amendment of Directive 2006/112/EC (3).
(3) The importation of goods is exempt from value added tax (VAT) if followed by a supply or transfer of those goods to a taxable person in another Member State. The conditions under which that exemption is granted are laid down by Member States. Experience, however, shows that divergences in application are exploited by traders to avoid payment of VAT on goods imported under those circumstances.
(4) In order to prevent that exploitation it is necessary to specify, for particular transactions, at Community level, a set of minimum conditions under which this exemption applies.
(5) Since, for those reasons, the objective of this Directive, namely to address the problem of VAT evasion, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States themselves and can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.
(6) In accordance with point 34 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on better law-making (4), Member States are encouraged to draw up, for themselves and in the interests of the Community, their own tables illustrating, as far as possible, the correlation between this Directive and the transposition measures, and to make them public.
(7) Directive 2006/112/EC should therefore be amended accordingly,