Statistics on the trading of goods between Member States: nomenclature, SLIM, Intrastat (amend. regul. 3330/91/EEC)

The present Intrastat system is a major source of cost, complication and frustration, particularly for SMEs. The Committee therefore endorses the Commission's objective of reducing the items in the Intrastat nomenclature to around 7,000. However, it feels that more can still be done in this area and that the present proposals should be regarded as a first stage in an on-going process of simplification aimed at culminating in a dramatically-streamlined common system for Intrastat and Extrastat to be introduced concurrently in the year 2002. Decisions on IN, CN and HS nomenclatures should not be taken in isolation but as a coherent package. �