2. To follow up its study on "Company Taxation in the Internal Market"[1], in its 2001 communication "Towards an internal market without obstacles - A strategy for providing companies with a consolidated corporate tax base for their EU-wide activities [2] " the Commission proposed the establishment of an "EU Joint Transfer Pricing Forum". On 11 March 2002 the Council adopted conclusions welcoming this move.
The Forum was formally established by the Commission in June 2002 and consists of one expert from the tax administrations of each Member State plus 10 experts from business. Representatives from applicant countries and the OECD Secretariat attend as observers. The summary records of the proceedings of the JTPF are available on the Commission's website[3].
3. As also reflected in the Council conclusions, the JTPF should work on the basis of consensus and should produce pragmatic, non-legislative solutions within the framework of the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines to the practical problems posed by transfer pricing practices in the EU.
4. The JTPF met for the first time in October 2002 and established a two-year work programme.
5. The main achievements of the JTPF in its first term of activity were its conclusions and recommendations on issues related to the Arbitration Convention (Convention 90/436/EEC of 23 July 1990 on the elimination of double taxation in connection with the adjustment of profits of associated enterprises) and on certain related issues concerning mutual agreement procedures under double tax treaties between Member States.
6. The JTPF's conclusions and recommendations were taken as the basis for a Commission communication[4] on the activities of the JTPF from October 2002 to December 2003, including a proposal for a Code of Conduct for the effective implementation of the Arbitration Convention and certain related issues of the mutual agreement procedure under double tax treaties between Member States, which was published on 23 April 2004. The proposed Code of Conduct was adopted by the Council on 7 December 2004.
7. Considering the constructive results and the important outstanding issues remaining on the JTPF's work programme, in December 2004 the Commission extended the JTPF’s mandate for another two years (from January 2005 to December 2006).
