The EU Commission officially requested Bulgaria to amend its VAT legislation because its rules for refunding VAT discriminates against persons involved in Intra-Community transactions according to the Commission. The Commission also formally requested Italy to comply with EU legislation and inform the Commission of national measures to implement EU rules on the common system of value added tax and EU rules on VAT linked to tax evasion on imports.

Both requests by the Commission take the form of a Reasoned Opinion (the second stage of an infringement procedure). If the Commission is not satisfied with the response from the member states within two months of issuing the Reasoned Opinions, the Commission may refer Bulgaria and/or Italy to the European Court of Justice.

For further details on the Bulgarian request see: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/1276&format=HTML&aged=0&language=en&guiLanguage=en

For further details on the Italian request see: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/1279&format=HTML&aged=0&language=en&guiLanguage=en