Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-16-Speech-2-065"
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"en.20031216.3.2-065"2
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"Mr President, since 1993, when the internal market became operational and border controls were abolished, the Customs authorities have ceased to be a source of basic statistical information on the trading of goods between Member States, but such information is still needed, and that is why the system known as Intrastat was set up. It could have celebrated its tenth anniversary this year, but the people at Eurostat are at present not in a celebratory mood.
If, though, the changes over the past few years are to be taken into account, then the 1991 Regulation urgently needs to be adapted; the proposal put before us by the Commission is a good one, and one that we can largely accept. Above all else, both its text and its rules have become simpler and more comprehensible. The scope has been more clearly delimited, and that is something that we do not always see. The Member States have been left more room for manoeuvre where the collection of statistics is concerned. Finally, we can welcome the way in which the Commission’s text takes account of the SLIM programme in lessening the burden on firms. Despite this, I tabled a handful of amendments, which were adopted unanimously, and I might add that I did this with the agreement of the Italian Presidency of the Council.
For a start, the threshold at which firms are exempted from providing information is raised by 1%, which will allow thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises to cut costs without the quality of statistics being adversely affected. Another amendment is aimed at excluding goods which are imported into a Member State only temporarily but without being altered there. Such would, for example, be the case if I were to get married and hire my wedding dress in a neighbouring country, and then take it back there. That would not be included in the statistics."@en1
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