16 Amendments of Molly SCOTT CATO related to 2017/0248(CNS)
Amendment 25 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1 a (new)
Recital 1 a (new)
(1a) VAT fraud is often linked with organised crime and a very small number of these organised networks can be responsible for billions of euro in cross- border VAT fraud, not only affecting revenue collection in Member States but also having a negative impact on the Union’s own resources. Member States have therefore a shared responsibility for the protection of all Member States’ VAT revenues.
Amendment 32 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) In order to combat the most serious cross-border fraud schemes, it is necessary to clarify and strengthen the governance, tasks and functioning of Eurofisc. Eurofisc liaison officials should be able to access, exchange, process and analyse all necessary information swiftly and coordinate any follow-up actions. It is also necessary to strengthen the cooperation with other authorities involved in the fight against VAT fraud at Union level, in particular through the exchange of targeted information with Europol and the European Anti-Fraud Office. Therefore, Eurofisc liaison officials should be able to share, spontaneously or on foot of a request, information and intelligence with Europol and, the European Anti-Fraud Office, and, for participating Member States, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, especially for suspicion of VAT fraud above a certain amount. This would enable Eurofisc liaison officials to receive data and intelligence held by Europol and the European Anti-Fraud Office in order to identify the real perpetrators of the VAT fraud activities.
Amendment 34 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) Organising the forwarding of requests for VAT refunds — pursuant to Article 5 of Council Directive 2008/9/EC35 offers an opportunity to reduce the administrative burden for the competent authorities to recover unpaid VAT debttax liabilities in the Member State of establishment. __________________ 35 Council Directive 2008/9/EC of 12 February 2008 laying down detailed rules for the refund of value added tax, provided for in Directive 2006/112/EC, to taxable persons not established in the Member State of refund but established in another Member State (OJ L 44, 20.2.2008, p. 23).
Amendment 37 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 18
Recital 18
(18) The Commission mayshould have access to the information communicated or collected pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 only in so far as it is necessary for care, maintenance and development of the electronic systems hosted by the Commission and used by the Member States for the purpose of this Regulation. In addition, the Commission should be able to conduct visits in Member States to evaluate how the administrative cooperation arrangements work.
Amendment 40 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 20 a (new)
Recital 20 a (new)
(20a) Given the low number of Member States publishing estimates of VAT losses due to intra-community fraud, having comparable data on intra-Community VAT fraud would contribute to a better targeted cooperation between Member States. Therefore, a common statistical approach should be developed by the Commission together with the Member States to quantify and analyse VAT fraud.
Amendment 52 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1 a (new)
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1 a (new)
Regulation (EU) No 904/2010
Article 10 – paragraph 2
Article 10 – paragraph 2
(1a) Article 10(2) is replaced by the following: ‘However, where the requested authority is already in possession of that information, the time limit shall be reduced to a maximum period of one month.”15 working days.’
Amendment 53 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1 b (new)
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1 b (new)
(1b) The following Article is inserted: ‘Article 12a All Member States shall implement a set of operational targets for reducing the percentage of late replies and improving the quality of requests for information and shall inform the Commission about their targets.’
Amendment 70 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 11 – point b – point i
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 11 – point b – point i
Regulation (EU) No 904/2010
Article 33 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 33 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) coordinate the work of the Eurofisc liaison officials as referred to in Article 36(1) of the participatingall Member States in acting on warnings and intelligence received;
Amendment 71 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 11 a (new)
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 11 a (new)
Regulation No 904/2010
Article 34 – paragraph 1
Article 34 – paragraph 1
(11a) Article 34(1) is replaced by the following: “1. Member States shall participate in theall Eurofisc working fields of their choice and may also decide to terminate their participation therein, to the extent of their capacity.”
Amendment 72 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 12
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 12
Regulation No 904/2010
Article 34 – paragraph 2
Article 34 – paragraph 2
2. Member States having chosen to take part in a Eurofisc working field shall actively participate in the multilateral exchange and the joint processing and analysis of targeted information between all participatingwith the other Member States and in the coordination of any follow-up actions.’
Amendment 75 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 14 – point c
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 14 – point c
Regulation (EU) No 904/2010
Article 36 – paragraph 3
Article 36 – paragraph 3
3. Eurofisc working field coordinators mayshall forward, on their own initiative or on request, some of the collated and processed information to Europol and, the European Anti-Fraud Office (‘OLAF’), and for participating countries to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, when total damage is of at least 5 000 000 EUR. Eurofisc working field coordinators may forward, on their own initiative or on request, relevant collated and processed information to the same institutions for cases below EUR 5 000 000, as agreed by the working field participants.
Amendment 84 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 17 a (new)
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 17 a (new)
Regulation (EU) No 904/2010
Article 49 – paragraph 1
Article 49 – paragraph 1
(17a) Article 49(1) is replaced by the following: “1. The Member States and the Commission shall examine and evaluate how the arrangements for administrative cooperation provided for in this Regulation are working. The Commission shall pool the Member States’ experience with the aim of improving the operation of those arrangements.” In addition, the Commission shall conduct visits in Member States to evaluate how the administrative cooperation arrangements work. The Commission shall adopt by means of implementing acts the practical and procedural arrangements in relation to these visits. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 58(2).”
Amendment 86 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 18
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 18
Regulation (EU) No 904/2010
Article 49 – paragraph 2a – subparagraph 2
Article 49 – paragraph 2a – subparagraph 2
Amendment 87 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 18 a (new)
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 18 a (new)
Regulation (EU) No 904/2010
Article 49 a (new)
Article 49 a (new)
(18a) The following article is inserted: “Article 49a The Member States and the Commission shall establish a common system of collecting statistics on intra-Community VAT fraud and publish national estimates of VAT losses due to this fraud, as well as estimates for the Union as a whole. The Commission shall adopt by means of implementing acts the practical arrangements for such statistical system. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 58(2).’
Amendment 88 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 18 b (new)
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 18 b (new)
Regulation (EU) No 904/2010
Article 50 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 50 – paragraph 1 a (new)
(18b) In Article 50, the following paragraph is added: ‘1a. When a Member State provides wider information to a third country than that provided for under Chapters II and III of this Regulation, that Member State may not refuse to provide this information to any other Member State requesting cooperation or having an interest to receive it.’
Amendment 90 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 19 – point a
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 19 – point a
Regulation (EU) No 904/2010
Article 55 – paragraph 2
Article 55 – paragraph 2
2. Persons duly accredited by the Security Accreditation Authority of the Commission may have access to this information only in so far as it is necessary for care, maintenance and development of the electronic systems hosted by the Commission and used by the Member States to implement this Regulation.