The Comitology Proposal: Shifting the Legislative Balances in EU VAT

In this article the authors address the proposal to transform the status of the VAT Committee into a ‘comitology committee’ tabled by<br/>the European Commission in December 2020. The proposal basically confers implementation powers to the Commission via<br/>comitology in the area of EU Value Added Tax (hereinafter: VAT). If adopted by the EU Member States, this would lead to a<br/>groundbreaking situation in which for the first time in the area of taxation the decision-making based on unanimity of EU Member<br/>States is dropped in an area that does directly affect the EU Member States’ national tax revenues. The authors take this opportunity<br/>to explain the function and the consequences of the comitology procedure. After describing the core of the proposal, the authors pay a<br/>visit to other legislative areas in taxation where the comitology procedures apply before they dive deep in the scope of the powers<br/>granted under the proposal and reach a conclusion. The authors doubt whether the proposal will be adopted and whether EU Member<br/>States are prepared to confer more powers to the European Commission.