2001/742/EC: Council Decision of 16 October 2001 authorising the Federal Republic of Germany to conclude with the Czech Republic an agreement containing measures derogating from Articles 2 and 3 of the Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes

Council Decision
of 16 October 2001
authorising the Federal Republic of Germany to conclude with the Czech Republic an agreement containing measures derogating from Articles 2 and 3 of the Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes
(2001/742/EC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to the Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes - Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment(1) (hereinafter referred to as the "Sixth VAT Directive"), and in particular Article 30 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Whereas:
(1) Under Article 30 of the Sixth VAT Directive, the Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission, may authorise any Member State to conclude with a non-member country or an international organisation an agreement which may contain derogations from the said Directive.
(2) By letter registered at the Secretariat-General of the Commission on 18 October 2000, the German Government requested authorisation to conclude an agreement with the Czech Republic relating to the construction of a frontier bridge between the States in question.
(3) The agreement contains provisions in the field of value added tax (VAT) which derogate from Articles 2 and 3 of the Sixth VAT Directive as regards, on the one hand, the supplies of goods and services in connection with the construction, repair and renewal of the frontier bridge and, on the other hand, importation of goods used for the construction work or the maintenance of this bridge.
(4) The other Member States were informed of the German request on 2 February 2001.
(5) In the absence of derogations, the construction, repair and renewal work carried out on German territory would be subject to VAT in Germany while that carried out on Czech territory would lie outside the scope of the Sixth VAT Directive. Further, each importation from the Czech Republic into Germany of goods used for the construction and the maintenance of the frontier bridge would be subject to VAT in Germany.
(6) The purpose of these derogations is to simplify the rules of taxation for the contractors carrying out the work in question.
(7) The derogations will have only a negligible effect on the own resources of the European Communities accruing from value added tax,