Article 1 
Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 is amended as follows: (6) Article 31 is amended as follows: (a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: ‘1. The competent authorities of each Member State shall ensure that persons involved in the intra-Community supply of goods or of services and non-established taxable persons supplying services, are allowed to obtain, for the purposes of such transactions, confirmation by electronic means of the validity of the VAT identification number of any specified person as well as the associated name and address. This information shall correspond to the data referred to in Article 17.’; (b) paragraph 3 is deleted.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal On 5 December 2017, the Council adopted Council Regulation (EU) 2017/2454 1 , which is part of the package of legislation on modernising VAT for cross-border B2C e-commerce (‘VAT e-commerce package’). It amends Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 on administrative cooperation and combating fraud in the field of value added tax 2 , which provides the basis for the underlying IT infrastructure and the necessary cooperation by Member States to ensure the success of the extension of the Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS). The date of application of the amendments laid down in Regulation (EU) 2017/2454 was fixed to be 1 January 2021. The Commission presented a state of play of the readiness of Member States on 14 February 2020, whereby most Member States confirmed that they would be in a position to apply the rules by due date. Two Member States raised concerns and requested a postponement for the entry into application by one year or more. The Commission offered assistance to those Member States encountering difficulties in order to help them overcome these hurdles and remained confident that Member States would be ready by 1 January 2021. However, due to the unforeseen outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis and its major impact, Member States had to shift priorities and re-allocate resources from the implementation of the VAT e-commerce package to fighting this pandemic. Therefore, other Member States cannot guarantee anymore to be able to finalise the preparatory work to apply the new rules by 1 January 2021, including the rules on administrative cooperation. The IT system at national level required to implement the new VAT e-commerce rules, including those laid down in Regulation (EU) 2017/2454, seriously risks to be delayed and thus jeopardises several Member States to be ready to apply the new rules as of 1 January 2021. Similar concerns were raised by key economic operators, especially postal and courier operators, who urged the Commission to postpone the date of application of the VAT e-commerce package by 6 months due to the COVID-19 crisis. The Commission held a meeting with Member States on 24 April 2020 to assess their readiness to apply the new rules as of 1 January 2021. The majority of Member States still confirmed to be ready to apply them on time, but stressed that the provisions on the functioning of the VAT e-commerce package are based on the principle that all Member States should be in a position to apply them correctly and would therefore be ready to support a postponement not exceeding 6 months. The objective of this proposal is to postpone the date of application of the amendments of the VAT e-commerce package set out in Regulation (EU) 2017/2454 originally foreseen for 1 January 2021 by six months. The new date of application shall thus be 1 July 2021. A postponement of six months is suggested, because the delay should be kept as short as possible to minimise additional budgetary losses for Member States. 
Revised version (Article 1 ):
Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 is amended as follows: in Article 1, paragraph 4 is replaced by the following: ‘4. This Regulation also lays down rules and procedures for the exchange by electronic means of VAT information on goods and services supplied in accordance with the special schemes provided for in Chapter 6 of Title XII of Directive 2006/112/EC and also for any subsequent exchange of information and, as far as goods and services covered by the special schemes are concerned, for the transfer of money between Member States' competent authorities.’. in Article 2, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following: ‘2. The definitions contained in Articles 358, 358a, 369a and 369l of Directive 2006/112/EC for the purposes of each special scheme shall also apply for the purposes of this Regulation.’. in Article 17(1), point (d) is replaced by the following: ‘(d) information which it collects pursuant to Articles 360, 361, 364, 365, 369c, 369f, 369g, 369o, 369p, 369s and 369t of Directive 2006/112/EC.’. in Article 17(1), the following point is added: in Article 17, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following: Article 31 is amended as follows: (a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: ‘1. The competent authorities of each Member State shall ensure that persons involved in the intra-Community supply of goods or of services and non-established taxable persons supplying services, are allowed to obtain, for the purposes of such transactions, confirmation by electronic means of the validity of the VAT identification number of any specified person as well as the associated name and address. This information shall correspond to the data referred to in Article 17.’; (b) paragraph 3 is deleted. Article 31 is amended as follows: paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: ‘1. The competent authorities of each Member State shall ensure that persons involved in the intra-Community supply of goods or of services and non-established taxable persons supplying services, are allowed to obtain, for the purposes of such transactions, confirmation by electronic means of the validity of the VAT identification number of any specified person as well as the associated name and address. This information shall correspond to the data referred to in Article 17.’; (b) paragraph 3 is deleted.
Article 2 
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . It shall apply from 1 January 2021.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal On 5 December 2017, the Council adopted Council Regulation (EU) 2017/2454 1 , which is part of the package of legislation on modernising VAT for cross-border B2C e-commerce (‘VAT e-commerce package’). It amends Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 on administrative cooperation and combating fraud in the field of value added tax 2 , which provides the basis for the underlying IT infrastructure and the necessary cooperation by Member States to ensure the success of the extension of the Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS). The date of application of the amendments laid down in Regulation (EU) 2017/2454 was fixed to be 1 January 2021. The Commission presented a state of play of the readiness of Member States on 14 February 2020, whereby most Member States confirmed that they would be in a position to apply the rules by due date. Two Member States raised concerns and requested a postponement for the entry into application by one year or more. The Commission offered assistance to those Member States encountering difficulties in order to help them overcome these hurdles and remained confident that Member States would be ready by 1 January 2021. However, due to the unforeseen outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis and its major impact, Member States had to shift priorities and re-allocate resources from the implementation of the VAT e-commerce package to fighting this pandemic. Therefore, other Member States cannot guarantee anymore to be able to finalise the preparatory work to apply the new rules by 1 January 2021, including the rules on administrative cooperation. The IT system at national level required to implement the new VAT e-commerce rules, including those laid down in Regulation (EU) 2017/2454, seriously risks to be delayed and thus jeopardises several Member States to be ready to apply the new rules as of 1 January 2021. Similar concerns were raised by key economic operators, especially postal and courier operators, who urged the Commission to postpone the date of application of the VAT e-commerce package by 6 months due to the COVID-19 crisis. The Commission held a meeting with Member States on 24 April 2020 to assess their readiness to apply the new rules as of 1 January 2021. The majority of Member States still confirmed to be ready to apply them on time, but stressed that the provisions on the functioning of the VAT e-commerce package are based on the principle that all Member States should be in a position to apply them correctly and would therefore be ready to support a postponement not exceeding 6 months. The objective of this proposal is to postpone the date of application of the amendments of the VAT e-commerce package set out in Regulation (EU) 2017/2454 originally foreseen for 1 January 2021 by six months. The new date of application shall thus be 1 July 2021. A postponement of six months is suggested, because the delay should be kept as short as possible to minimise additional budgetary losses for Member States. 
Revised version (Article 2 ):
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . It shall apply from 1 July 2021. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.