VAT - Accession of Croatia to the EU - Transition Measures

European Union (Value-Added Tax) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 252 of 2013)

The Minister for Finance has made Regulations under the powers conferred on him by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) to give effect to Council Directive 2013/13/EC of 13 May 2013 (OJ No. L 141 of 28 May 2013).

The Directive deals with the accession to the EU of the Republic of Croatia. These Regulations amend the application of transitional VAT measures to goods in transit between Croatia and Ireland on 1 July 2013.

The accession of Croatia requires the existing Member States to treat goods from that country as Community goods rather than third country goods with effect from 1 July 2013. On accession, the intra-Community arrangements for taxing trade between Member States will replace the system of imposing tax on importation and remission of tax on exportation. From the moment of accession, transitional measures are needed to address the tax position of goods in transit by continuing to treat these goods as third country goods until they are cleared out of the transit system. The same will apply to goods in customs suspension arrangements.