David Martin (S&D), in writing. – VAT fraud costs the EU and national budgets several billion euro every year. In some serious cases, vast sums are lost within a very short timeframe, due to the speed at which fraud schemes evolve nowadays. For example, between June 2008 and December 2009, an estimated EUR 5 billion was lost as a result of VAT fraud in greenhouse gas emission allowances. Currently, if a Member State wishes to counteract VAT fraud through measures not provided for under EU VAT legislation, it must formally request a derogation to do so. The Commission then draws up a proposal to this effect and submits it to the Council for unanimous adoption before the measures can be implemented. This process can be slow and cumbersome, delaying the Member State in question from taking the necessary action to stop the fraud. With the Quick Reaction Mechanism, Member States would no longer have to wait for this formal process to be completed before applying specific anti-fraud measures. Instead, a faster procedure would grant them a temporary derogation within a month. The derogation would be valid for up to one year. This would allow the Member State in question to begin counteracting the fraud nearly immediately.