28.6.2001 Official Journal of the European Communities L175/17 COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2001/44/EC of 15 June 2001 amending Directive 76/308/EEC on mutual assistance for the recovery of claims resulting from operations forming part of the system of financing the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund, and of agricultural levies and customs duties and in respect of value added tax and certain excise duties THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 93 and 94 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (%), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Whereas: (1)  The existing arrangements for mutual assistance for recovery set out in Directive 76/308/EEC (*) should be modified to meet the threat to the financial interests of the Community and the Member States and to the internal market posed by the development of fraud. 2)  In the context of the internal market, Community and national financial interests, which are increasingly threat- ened by fraud, must be protected so as to safeguard better the competitiveness and fiscal neutrality of the internal market. (3)  In order to safeguard better the financial interests of the Member States and the neutrality of the internal market, claims relating to certain taxes on income and capital and taxes on insurance premiums should be added to the scope of the mutual assistance provided for by Directive 76/308/EEC. (4)  In order to permit more efficient and effective recovery of claims in respect of which a request for recovery has been made, the instrument permitting enforcement of the claim should, in principle, be treated as an instru- ment of the Member State in which the requested authority is situated. (5)  The use of mutual assistance for recovery cannot, save in exceptional circumstances, be based on financial benefits or an interest in the results obtained, but Member States should be able to agree the reimbursement arrangements when recovery poses a specific problem. (6)  The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down (*) O] C 269, 28.8.1998, p. 16 and OJ C 179, 24.6.1999, p. 6. (® OJ C 150, 28.5.1999, p. 621 and opinion delivered on 16.5.2001 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () O] C 101, 12.4.1999, p. 26. (*) OJ L 73, 19.3.1976, p. 18. Directive as last amended by the 1994 Act of Accession. the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (°). (7)  Directive 76/308/EEC should therefore be amended accordingly, HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: Article 1 Directive 76/308/EEC is hereby amended as follows: 1. The title shall be replaced by the following: ‘Council Directive 76/308/EEC of 15 March 1976 on mutual assistance for the recovery of claims relating to certain levies, duties, taxes and other measures. 2. Article 2 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 2 This Directive shall apply to all claims relating to: (a) refunds, interventions and other measures forming part of the system of total or partial financing of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), including sums to be collected in connection with these actions; (b) levies and other duties provided for under the common organisation of the market for the sugar sector; (c) import duties; (d) export duties; (e) value added tax; (f) excise duties on: — manufactured tobacco, — alcohol and alcoholic beverages, — mineral oils; (g) taxes on income and capital; (h) taxes on insurance premiums; (i) interest, administrative penalties and fines, and costs incidental to the claims referred to in points (a) to (h), with the exclusion of any sanction of a criminal nature as determined by the laws in force in the Member State in which the requested authority is situated.’ () O] L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.