The Minister of Finance of the Government of the Canary Islands, Rosa Dávila, announced this Wednesday, February 17, in Parliament that purchases made over the internet that do not exceed 150 euros will not have the obligation to present the Single Administrative Document (DUA). She explained that this measure, which will avoid the presentation of three million declarations in the islands, will avoid the extra costs in the operations carried out by buyers.
To this end, Rosa Dávila will sign this Thursday, February 18, the modification of decree 268/2011 on Regulation 268/2011 on the Management of REF Taxes, which will allow raising the minimum exempt from the presentation of the DUA from the current 22 euros to 150 euros.
"This update will be published this week in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands so that it begins to be applied as soon as possible, thus fulfilling a commitment of President Fernando Clavijo," she said.
She assured that consumers buy through the internet with the uncertainty of knowing the final price of the product. "This is because completing the DUA is a procedure that continues to be cumbersome, so many individuals are forced to delegate its management to an intermediary," explained Dávila.
The councillor highlighted the willingness to work together that all the agents involved in electronic commerce in the Canary Islands have because they are all aware that promoting online business in the archipelago has very complex legal implications, "difficulties that are due to the limitations imposed by the legislation and that derive from the fiscal singularity of the islands."
She recalled that two meetings have already been held in which consumer organizations, Customs officials, Correos, business organizations, carriers, tax law experts, entrepreneurs specialized in online sales and representatives of the General State Administration and the Canary Islands participated. Raising the minimum exempt from the obligation to present the DUA to 150 euros is just one of the measures in which the working group created to streamline electronic commerce is working.
The councillor detailed that the simplification of the self-dispatch model is another of the planned actions because "its completion is not intuitive and hiring a third party to carry out the procedure always involves an added cost, which prevents knowing with certainty the final price of the purchase."
Another of the issues in which the Government of the Canary Islands wants to advance, in collaboration with the rest of the administrations and agents involved, is to establish the mechanism so that it is the administration that provides buyers with the summary declaration number necessary for the completion of the self-dispatch.
"The majority of buyers go to the importing and exporting agents to provide them with this data, which is necessary to be able to lift the merchandise, with the consequent expense for the buyer," she said.
Next meetings
Finally, Rosa Dávila announced that the Government of the Canary Islands has requested meetings with the head of the RUP Unit, Pascale Wolcarious, and the two highest authorities in the European Commission with direct competences in the European Digital Market: Commissioner Gunther Ottinger and Vice President Andrus Ansip.
"Eliminating the obstacles to electronic commerce is one of the priorities of the Executive because los canarios have the same right as the rest of European citizens to participate in the online business, without the traditional commerce being harmed and without Europe ceasing to treat the archipelago as a differentiated territory," concluded Rosa Dávila.
