Brussels, 09/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - . In 1996 alone tobacco and alcohol fraud was responsible for an estimated €4.8 billion in lost revenue and this has led the European Commission to unveil, on 9 January, a draft regulation to strengthen cooperation between Member States' tax authorities in the field of excise duties on alcohol, tobacco and energy products, in order to ensure the proper functioning of the Internal Market, facilitate collection of taxes by Member States, ensure equal treatment of traders and combat fraud.
The proposal has three main objectives: to lay down clearer and more binding rules governing the exchange of information, to provide for more direct contact between national anti-fraud agencies, and to facilitate more extensive exchange of information. It would strengthen, simplify and replace provisions relating to administrative co-operation in the field of excise duties in two existing Directives (77/799/EEC concerning mutual assistance and 92/12/EEC on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty). It would ensure more direct contacts between local offices of Member States, while giving central liaison offices a role in overseeing this decentralised cooperation; establish a three-month time limit within which Member States would have to respond to information requests from each other; formalise the procedures whereby officials from one Member State could carry out investigations in another; establish procedures for simultaneous audits by officials from two or more Member States; introduce an obligation for automatic information exchange, without prior request, in cases where there is, or there is a risk of, serious fraud in a Member State; lay down rules concerning time limits for storage and concerning how information held should be exchanged; provide for transmission of statistical information to the Commission so as to allow the Commission to play a coordinating and facilitating role; and provide for information exchange with non-EU countries.