Legal provisions of COM(2003)236 - Opinion of the Commission pursuant to Article 251 (2), third subparagraph, point (c) of the EC Treaty, on the European Parliament's amendments to the Council's common position regarding the proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on computerising the movement and surveillance of excisable products amending the proposal of the Commission pursuant to Article 250 (2) of the EC Treaty

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dossier COM(2003)236 - Opinion of the Commission pursuant to Article 251 (2), third subparagraph, point (c) of the EC Treaty, on the European ...
document COM(2003)236 EN
date June 16, 2003


Contents

Article 1

1. A computerised system for the movement and surveillance of excisable products of the kind referred to in Article 3(1) of Directive 92/12/EEC, hereinafter referred to as 'the computerised system', is hereby established.

2. The computerised system is intended to:

(a) permit the electronic transmission of the accompanying document provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 2719/92, and the improvement of checks;

(b) improve the functioning of the internal market, by simplifying the intra-Community movement of products under excise duty suspension arrangements, and by affording Member States the possibility of monitoring the flows in real time and of carrying out the requisite checks where necessary.

Article 2

Member States and the Commission shall establish the computerised system within six years of the entry into force of this Decision.

Activities relating to the initiation of application of the computerised system shall begin not later than 12 months after the entry into force of this Decision.

Article 3

1. The computerised system shall be made up of Community and non-Community components.

2. The Commission shall ensure that in work on the Community components of the computerised system every attention is paid to re-using as much of the NCTS as possible and ensuring that the computerised system is compatible with, and, if technically possible, integrated into, the NCTS with the objective of creating an integrated computer system for the surveillance both of intra-Community movements of excisable goods and of movements of excisable goods and goods subject to other duties and charges coming from or going to third countries.

3. The Community components of the system shall be the common specifications, the technical products, the services of the Common Communications Network/Common Systems Interface network, and the coordination services used by all the Member States, to the exclusion of any variant or special feature of any such services designed to meet national requirements.

4. The non-Community components of the system shall be the national specifications, the national databases forming part of the system, network connections between Community and non-Community components and any software or equipment which a Member State considers necessary to ensure full use of the system throughout its administration.

Article 4

1. The Commission, acting in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 7(2), shall coordinate the setting up and running of the Community and non-Community components of the computerised system, and in particular:

(a) the infrastructure and tools needed to guarantee the system's internal links and overall interoperability;

(b) the development of a security policy of the highest standard possible in order to prevent unauthorised access to data and to guarantee the integrity of the system;

(c) the instruments for the exploitation of data to combat fraud.

2. To achieve the aims of paragraph 1, the Commission shall conclude the necessary contracts for setting up the Community components of the computerised system and shall, in cooperation with the Member States meeting within the Committee referred to in Article 7(1), draw up a master plan and management plans required for the establishment and running of the system.

The master plan and the management plans shall specify the initial and routine tasks which the Commission and each Member State are to perform. The management plans shall specify the completion dates for the tasks required for carrying out each project identified in the master plan.

Article 5

1. Member States shall ensure that they complete, by the date specified in the management plans mentioned in Article 4(2), the initial and routine tasks allocated to them.

They shall report to the Commission the results of each task and the date of its completion. The Commission shall in turn inform the Committee referred to in Article 7(1) thereof.

2. No Member State shall take any action relating to the setting up or running of the computerised system that might affect the system's internal links and overall interoperability or its functioning as a whole.

Any measure that a Member State might wish to take and that could affect either the computerised system's internal links and overall interoperability or its functioning as a whole shall be taken only with the prior agreement of the Commission, acting in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 7(2).

3. Member States shall inform the Commission regularly of any measure they may have taken to enable their respective administrations to make full use of the computerised system. The Commission shall in turn inform the Committee referred to in Article 7(1) thereof.

Article 6

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Decision relating to the setting up and running of the computerised system and to the matters referred to in Article 4(1) and in Article 5(2) second subparagraph shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 7(2). These implementing measures shall not affect the Community provisions in relation to the raising and checking of indirect taxes or administrative cooperation and mutual assistance in matters of indirect taxation.

Article 7

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee on Excise Duties set up under Article 24 of Directive 92/12/EEC.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.

3. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

Article 8

1. The Commission shall take whatever other steps are necessary to verify that the measures financed from the general budget of the European Union are being carried out correctly and in compliance with the provisions of this Decision.

It shall regularly, in collaboration with the Member States, meeting in the Committee referred to in Article 7(1), monitor the various development and deployment stages of the computerised system with a view to determining whether the objectives pursued have been achieved, and to issuing guidelines on how to raise the effectiveness of the activities involved in implementing the computerised system.

2. 30 months after the entry into force of this Decision, the Commission shall submit to the Committee referred to in Article 7(1) an interim report on the monitoring operations. If appropriate, this report shall set out methods and criteria to be used in the later evaluation of how the computerised system is functioning.

3. At the end of the six-year period referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 2, the Commission shall present to the European Parliament and the Council a report on the implementation of the computerised system. The report shall set out, inter alia, the methods and criteria to be used in the later evaluation of how the system is functioning.

Article 9

The countries that have applied for membership of the European Union shall be kept informed by the Commission of the development and deployment of the computerised system and may, if they so desire, take part in the tests to be carried out.

Article 10

1. The costs of setting up the computerised system shall be split between the Community and the Member States in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3.

2. The Community shall bear the costs of the design, acquisition, installation and maintenance of the Community components of the computerised system and the ongoing operating costs of those Community components installed in Commission premises, or in those of a subcontractor designated by the Commission.

3. Member States shall bear the costs of setting up and running the non-Community components of the system and the ongoing operating costs of those Community components installed in their premises, or in those of a subcontractor designated by the Member State concerned.

Article 11

1. The financial framework for financing the computerised system for the period defined in the first subparagraph of Article 2 is hereby set at EUR 35000000 insofar as the general budget of the European Union is concerned.

The annual appropriations, including appropriations assigned to the use and operation of the system after the above implementation period, shall be authorised by the budgetary authority within the limits of the financial perspective.

2. Member States shall estimate and make available the budgets and human resources needed to meet their obligations described in Article 5. The Commission and the Member States shall provide the human, budgetary and technical resources needed to establish and run the computerised system.

Article 12

This Decision shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 13

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.