28.12. 78 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 366/33 SECOND COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 19 December 1978 amending Directive 74/651/EEC on the tax reliefs to be allowed on the importa- tion of goods in small consignments of a non-commercial character within the Community (78/1034/EEC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, " Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Articles 99 and 100 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commis- sion (1), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia- ment (2), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Whereas Article 1 (2) (d) of Council Directive 74/651/EEC of 19 December 1974 on the tax reliefs to be allowed on the importation of goods in small consignments of a non-commercial character within the Community (*) allows tax relief for small consign- ments containing goods whose total value does not exceed 40 units of account; Whereas the introduction of the European unit of account in the legal acts adopted by the institutions of the European Communities in the field of tax exemp- tions must not have the effect of reducing the equiva- lent value in national currencies of the amounts at present eligible for relief ; whereas this objective can be attained by fixing at 60 European units of account - the amount of the tax relief referred to in Article 1 (2) (d) of Directive 74/651/EEC, HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: Article 1 In Article 1 (2) (d) of Directive 74/651/EEC, ‘40 units of account’ shall be replaced by ‘60 European units of account’. Article 2 The following Article shall be inserted in Directive 74/651/EEC : ‘Article 1a 1. For the purposes of this Directive, “European unit of account” (EUA) shall be as defined in the Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977 (!). () OJ No C 213, 7. 9. 1978, p. 10. (%) OJ No C 261, 6. 11. 1978, p. 46. (%) Opinion delivered on 19 October 1978 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () OJ No L 354, 30. 12. 1974, p. 57. 2. The EUA equivalent in national currency which shall apply for the implementation of this Directive shall be fixed once a year. The rates applicable shall be those obtaining on the first working day of October with effect from 1 January of the following year. 3.  Member States may round off the amounts in national currency resulting from the conversion of the amount in EUA provided for in Article 1 (2) (d) provided such rounding-off does not exceed 2 EUA. 4, Member States may maintain the amount of the relief in force at the time of the annual adjust- ment provided for in paragraph 2 if, prior to the rounding off provided for in paragraph 3, conver- sion of the amount of the relief expressed in EUA would result in a change of less than § % in the relief expressed in national currency. (1) OJ No L 356, 31. 12. 1977, p. 1. Article 3 1. Member States shall bring into force the measures necessary to comply with this Directive no later than 1 January 1979. 2.  Member States shall inform the Commission of the provisions which they adopt to implement this Directive. The Commission shall inform the other Member States thereof. Article 4 This Directive is addressed to the Member States. Done at Brussels, 19 December 1978. For the Council . The President H.- D. GENSCHER