Download pdf - European Union of Developers and House Builders

31The Future of Reduced VAT Ratesin the Housing SectorIn 1999 the Council adopted Directive 1999/85/EC concerningVAT on labour-intensive services, whichallowed a reduced VAT rate to be applied to certainlabour-intensive services, but only for an trial period ofthree years (extended by two years) so as to test its effecton job creation and on combating the undergroundeconomy. The list of categories to which Member Stateswere authorised to apply the reduced rates included,among other categories, the renovation and repairing ofprivate dwellings, excluding materials that form asignificant part of the value of the supply.On 14 February 2006 the Council adopted a directive(Council Directive 2006/18/EC) enabling Member Statesto apply reduced VAT rates to certain labour-intensiveservices retroactively from 01/01/2006 through31/12/2010.UEPC’s future work must therefore be addressed in anextension to Annex K.Construction Products DirectiveA European Commission stakeholder consultation washeld, focusing on the revision of the ConstructionProducts Directive (CPD) with a deadline of 31/05/2006.UEPC sent comments on this directive.A draft of the revised CPD was expected to be publishedin late 2007, and UEPC should keep a watchful eye onthe changes that may need to be made to the newEuropean standards, many of which arestill being implemented.Consultation Meeting on ‘Innovation and LeadMarkets - Sustainable Construction’, 24 April 2007The EN 14383-1 terminology guidelines were published.ENV 143838-2 on urban planning was to become a technicalreport. TS 14383-3, a technical specification on thebuilding design of dwellings was published.Members were invited to comment on the proposed143838-2 Technical Report on Urban Planning, andUEPC submitted a response indicating the nounfavourable technical comments had been made.In 2007 the Technical Report on Urban Planning wasadopted.Competitiveness of the Construction SectorBenchmarking Construction CostsAfter the summer of 2006, the Commission publisheda management steering group report with the analysisand preliminary conclusions of over 200 interviews. Thegeneral impression was that there was no great dissatisfactionat the EU level, but that concerns about implementationwere present at the national level. The studyalso indicated that while each individual measure mightbe justified, there was concern about the cumulative effectof the measures, especially on SMEs. Concerns werevoiced that the EU appears to have a poor understandingof the construction sector.UEPC members were invited to comment on the studybased on a request that UEPC received from the Commission.On 17 May 2006, UEPC was interviewed by R. McCourtney of the Manchester Business School, Universityof Manchester who had been commissioned by the EuropeanCommission to conduct a study on the analysis andassessment of elements of certain community policiesthat impact on the competitiveness of the constructionsector.On behalf of UEPC, J. Haynes attended the meetingorganised by Mr Ortún, director of DG Enterprise andIndustry, on ‘Innovation and Lead Markets - SustainableConstruction’. During the meeting Mr Haynes presentedUEPC’s views on the subject.Crime Prevention & CEN TC 325Mr Haynes provides the liaison contact for this file. Heattended the plenary meeting in London as an observerfrom 15-16 May 2006.