{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-1998-161/introduction",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-1998-161/introduction.json",
  "legislation": "eudn/1998/161",
  "legislation_title": "Council Decision of 16 February 1998 authorising the Kingdom of the Netherlands to apply a measure derogating from Articles 2 and 28a(1) of the Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes (98/161/EC)",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-1998-161",
  "path": "introduction",
  "kind": "introduction",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Introductory text",
  "text": "Council Decision\nof 16 February 1998\nauthorising the Kingdom of the Netherlands to apply a measure derogating from Articles 2 and 28a(1) of the Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes\n(98/161/EC)\nTHE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,\nHaving regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,\nHaving regard to the Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes: common system of value added tax, uniform basis for assessment, and in particular Article 27 thereof,\nHaving regard to the proposal from the Commission,\nWhereas, pursuant to Article 27(1) of Directive 77/388/EEC, the Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission, may authorise any Member State to introduce special measures for derogation from that Directive in order to simplify the procedure for charging the tax or to prevent certain types of tax evasion and avoidance;\nWhereas, by letter registered at the Commission on 9 June 1997, the Kingdom of the Netherlands requested authorisation to introduce a measure derogating from Articles 2 and 28a(1) of Directive 77/388/EEC;\nWhereas, in accordance with Article 27(3) of Directive 77/388/EEC, the other Member States were informed on 10 September 1997 of the request submitted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands;\nWhereas that special measure provides, firstly, for exemption of the supply and intra-Community acquisition of used and waste materials, with the exception of non-ferrous metals, in the case of taxable entities with an annual turnover of less than NLG 2,5 million and, secondly, for exemption of the supply and intra-Community acquisition of non-ferrous metals;\nWhereas the taxable persons whose transactions are covered by the above exemptions may, subject to the conditions laid down by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, be authorised not to apply that measure to their transactions;\nWhereas the measure both simplifies matters and helps to combat fraud since a category of taxable persons where checks and efforts at collection would be disproportionate to the revenue generated can be excluded from the VAT system;\nWhereas, consequently, the special measure satisfies the conditions laid down in Article 27 of Directive 77/388/EEC;\nWhereas the Commission adopted on 10 July 1996 a work programme, together with a timetable, for the phased introduction of a common system of VAT for the internal market;\nWhereas authorisation is being granted until 31 December 1999 so that an assessment can then be made of the compatibility of the derogation measure with the overall approach adopted for the new common system of VAT;\nWhereas this derogation will not have an adverse impact on the Community's own resources accruing from VAT,\nHAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "OJ L 145, 13. 6. 1977, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Directive 96/95/EC (OJ L 338, 28. 12. 1996, p. 89)."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/1998/161/introduction",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-01T15:19:05.152841+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}