Amended proposal for a European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States (Intrastat)
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES Brussels, 27. 04. 1998 COM(1998) 270 final 97/0155 (COD) Amended proposal for a EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States (INTRASTAT) (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 a (2) of the EC-Treaty) EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1 The Commission has studied the report of the European Parliament1 and the adopted amendments2. 2. The Commission approves the amendments of the European Parliament except the immediate deletion of the "delivery terms" (amendment 2). The Commission recommends a transition period for the suppression of this data element to allow the Member States to adjust their statistical systems in order to compensate for this loss of information. 3. The Commission agrees to maintaining the region of origin/destination as optional data elements, and has taken into consideration the importance of this information for some Member States. However, the Commission is undertaking a study to examine the possibilities of using alternative sources for the collection of this data item, e. g. administrative registers. 4. The Commission shares the point of view of the European Parliament that the simplifications should be designed in particular for the SMEs for whom the declarative burden is often disproportionate to the utility of the trade statistics. This can be achieved by introducing thresholds for the collection of the optional data elements. The Commission finds that such measures will reinforce the simplification impact of the revised proposal, and will respond to the complaints of the providers in terms of the excessive declaration burden. 5. The Commission finds it important to achieve concrete legislative results, and emphasizes the strong political support which has been expressed in respect of the SLIM project of which INTRASTAT is part. 1 A4-0102/98 of 19 March, 1998 2 PE 268. 231 of 1 April, 1998 Z Amended proposal for a European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States (INTRASTAT) Text proposed by the Commission( ) Amendments proposed (Amendment 1) Recital 6 Whereas optional data should be abolished in order to limit the burden on providers of statistical information and to guarantee equal these; whereas the reporting of the country of origin is nevertheless of particular benefit to numerous users and should therefore be retained; treatment of Whereas the mode of transport, the terms of delivery as well as optional data should be abolished for enterprises with limited trade, in order to limit the burden on providers information^ statistical and medium-sized particularly enterprises; whereas the collection of such information from other enterprises should national according limited be requirements; small of to (Amendment 2) ARTICLE 1(4) Article 23(2) (Regulation (EEC) 3330/91) require enterprises which In order to limit the number of small and are medium-sized required to provide detailed statistical data the Commission shall determine, pursuant to Article 30 of this Regulation, a threshold below which the Member States may not the statistical data medium to mention data other than those provided for in paragraph 1. The threshold shall be set at the highest level at which the compatibility of information collected in the Member States can be guaranteed. To that end, the Commission may set different values for different Member States. the Member States may not require the statistical data medium to mention data other than those provided for in paragraph 1, with the exception of the following: (')QJC 203, 3. 7. 1997, p. 10. 3 of the data provided for Apart from in paragraph 1, Member States may, solely in respect statistical providers information with dispatches or arrivals of an annual value in excess of the above the statistical data threshold, medium to mention the following data: require of (a) (b) in the Member State of arrival, the country of origin; (a) in the Member State of arrival, the country of origin; the terms 31 December 1999. of delivery until ( b) me t e r ms 3, Decemher d d i v e ry of 1999. u m i| (c) in the Member State of dispatch, the region of origin and in the Member State of arrival, region of destination. the y ISSN 0254-1475 COM(98) 270 final DOCUMENTS EN 17 06 02 10 Catalogue number : CB-C0-98-284-EN-C ISBN 92-78-35473-2 Office for Official Publications of the European Communities L-2985 Luxembourg