proposta emendata għal Direttiva tal-Kunsill li temenda d-Direttiva 77/388/KEE rigward il-post fejn ikunu provduti s-servizzi

(COM(2005)0334 – C6‑0322/2005 – 2003/0329(CNS))

(Proċedura ta' konsultazzjoni)

Il-Parlament Ewropew,

–   wara li kkunsidra l-proposta tal-Kummisjoni lill-Kunsill (COM (2005)0334)

Għadha mhix ippubblikata fil-ĠU.

–   wara li kkunsidra l-Artikolu 93 tat-Trattat KE, skond liema Trattat il-Kunsill ikkonsulta lill-Parlament (C6‑0322/2005),

–   wara li kkunsidra l-Artikolu 51 tar-Regoli ta' Proċedura tiegħu,

–   wara li kkunsidra r-rapport tal-Kumitat għall-Affarijiet Ekonomiċi u Monetarji u l-opinjoni tal-Kumitat għall-Kultura u l-Edukazzjoni (A6‑0153/2006),

1.  Japprova l-proposta tal-Kummissjoni kif emendata;

2.  Jistieden lill-Kummissjoni biex tbiddel il-proposta tagħha kif meħtieġ, skond l-Artikolu 250(2) tat-Trattat KE;

3.  Jistieden lill-Kunsill biex jinfurmah jekk ikollu l-ħsieb li jbiddel it-test approvat mill-Parlament;

4.  Jitlob lill-Kunsill biex jerġa' jikkonsultah jekk ikollu l-ħsieb li jemenda l-proposta tal-Kummissjoni b'mod sostanzjali;

5.  Jagħti istruzzjonijiet lill-President tiegħu sabiex jgħaddi l-pożizzjoni tal-Parlament lill-Kunsill u lill-Kummissjoni.

Emenda minn Jules Maaten

Emenda minn Zsolt László Becsey

I. Legislative background

In July 2000 the Commission set out its new strategy regarding the VAT policy

COM(2000)0348 of 7 Jul 2000 ‘A strategy to improve the operation of the VAT system within the context of the internal market’.

At the times when the principle was conveyed the potential distortions resulting from that reverted application were minimal as it resulted in the tax accruing to the country of consumption. Nevertheless, together with higher degree of completion of the Internal Market, dashing globalisation and popularity of distant commerce, the exceptions were liable to overtake the rule. In light of these developments and following the public consultation of 2002, the Commission has come up with a proposal

COM(2003)0822 of 23 Dec 2003.

Rather than tinkering with the existing rules and scrapping the hitherto law, the Commission's draft proposed to turn back to the original principle and define the place of supply for services between taxable persons (the so-called B2B) as the place where the customer is established, with taxation through self-assessment becoming the rule.

II. Objectives of the original proposal

The key principle of the Commission's original proposal was that any modification of the rules governing the place of taxation of services should result, as much as possible, in taxation at the place where the actual consumption occurs. The expected result should be a broad simplification of practicalities related to cross-border services sector.

The Commission's original proposal focused exclusively on the provisions related to services supplied to taxable persons - B2B. The Business-to-Consumer (B2C) issue was to be addressed subsequently. In the course of consultations it appeared nevertheless that due to largely similar considerations between the two sectors, it would be illogical not to deal with the latter being, in absence of specific provisions, taxed where the supplier is established. Bearing in mind that we live in the era of globalisation and attractiveness of the distant selling, there could be a risk of distortion of competition. The Commission has therefore decided to amend its original proposal and extend its scope onto B2C sector as well.

III. Objectives of the modified proposal

The proposed amendments to be applied to B2C sector should to a large extent be in line with the proposed rules for B2B services. However, in order to avoid excessive red tape for service providers stemming from the necessity to comply with a number of various VAT systems, the requisite accompanying mechanism needs to be brought in force in parallel to this proposal. Therefore the Rapporteur, following the Commission, would like to put a strong emphasis on the compatibility of the proposed modifications with the 'one-stop' mechanism tabled by the Commission in 2005 and to which the Parliament has already given its supportive opinion. The scheme's principal objective is to simplify VAT obligations for cross-border trading by allowing the suppliers to meet their tax requirements for all kind of cross-border activity in the very Member State of their establishment with their tax declarations being automatically transmitted to a given Member States where the services were actually supplied. This will help eliminating distortion of the competition as taxing services supplied to non-taxable persons at the place of consumption ensures that the influence of VAT rates on the place of supply will always be neutral.

IV. The Rapporteur's opinion

The Rapporteur reiterates his earlier support for the Commission's original proposal, which he believes provides for an urgently required updating of the rules on the place of supply of services and ensures much-needed flexibility, enabling the relevant legislation to deal with developments in the service sector. It also ensures the neutrality of the VAT rates and eliminates possible distortion of competition.

He welcomes as well the initiative of addressing the services supplied to non-taxable persons in line with the provisions foreseen for transactions between the taxable persons, as eliminating possible distortions of competition caused by the VAT rate incentive.

Further on, the Rapporteur stresses that VAT is in its definition imposed on consumption and application of that principle should be as broad as possible. He does agree that there is a list of services, such as intra-Community transport of goods and passengers or catering services provided on board ships, aircrafts or trains, that cannot comply with that principle and therefore the specific provisions are needed. The Rapporteur supports the introduced derogations accentuating nevertheless that better balance between the principle of place of consumption and the administrative procedures required. In the given examples of intra-Community transport, or services which can be supplied at a distance, the provisions in place are still quite burdensome and difficult to apply.

In the view of the above mentioned concerns, the Rapporteur urges the Council to implement the new provisions jointly with the 'one stop' scheme, allowing small and medium size enterprises to avoid unnecessary red tape on cross-border transactions and alleviate the administrative burden for a certain type of the above listed typed of services.

Having stated that, the Rapporteur intends to make no amendments to the Commission's modified proposal and recommends to the Members of the European Parliament to adopt it as it stands.