Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-06-12-Speech-2-304"
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"en.20010612.14.2-304"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner Bolkenstein, the administrative burdens on businesses operating in the EU must be minimised. The Commission’s proposal and Mrs Torres Marques’ excellent report promote this trend. Administrative burdens place particular pressure on small- and medium-sized businesses which, due to their small size, have to put relatively more energy into complying with regulations than large businesses. Our Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs is also already proposing, in its first amendment to the Commission’s proposal, that the national authorities which have the authority to act must always ensure that complying with this directive will not cause SMEs additional, unnecessary administrative burdens. Simplifying Community law must always have the consequence of reducing the administrative burden on SMEs. Bearing this in mind, it is also very important that tomorrow we will be voting on the Committee’s Amendment No 18, which I initiated, becoming part of the final opinion of Parliament.
Honourable Members, legislation renewing and modernising requirements governing invoicing must constantly take into account the opportunities offered by growing e-commerce and the new demands this makes. A recently published Nordic study stated that by 2005 approximately 80% of company invoices will be transferred electronically. At the moment this figure is 10%. Billing electronically is estimated to halve the cost of invoicing in the Nordic Countries. So the significance is far from small.
Electronic signatures, referred to in Amendment No 18, can be one way of ensuring that invoices transferred electronically are genuine and that their content has not been interfered with but it is not the only way. The experience gained from Member States where electronic invoicing is permitted shows that the lack of electronic signatures has not caused problems for auditors or any other parties requiring this information. Using advanced electronic signatures must not be compulsory. It would be a retrograde step for those Member States which have already accepted electronic invoicing for some time without electronic signatures being required. The question of the security of doing business over the Internet must not be combined with the legal requirements for Value Added Tax. I also hope that Mrs Torres Marques will further consider her opinion before the voting tomorrow."@en1
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