Article 14 Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC

1.Without prejudice to other Community provisions, Member States shall exempt the following under conditions which they shall lay down for the purpose of ensuring the correct and straightforward application of such exemption and of preventing any possible evasion, avoidance or abuse:

(a)final importation of goods of which the supply by a taxable person would in all circumstances be exempted within the country;

(d)final importation of goods qualifying for exemption from customs duties other than as provided for in the Common Customs Tariff . However, Member States shall have the option of not granting exemption where this would be liable to have a serious effect on conditions of competition;

This exemption shall also apply to the import of goods, within the meaning of Article 7 (1) (b), which would be capable of benefiting from the exemption set out above if they had been imported within the meaning of Article 7 (1) (a).

(e)reimportation by the person who exported them of goods in the state in which they were exported, where they qualify for exemption from customs duties;

(g)importations of goods:

—under diplomatic and consular arrangements, which qualify for exemption from customs duties —————

—by international organizations recognized as such by the public authorities of the host country, and by members of such organizations, within the limits and under the conditions laid down by the international conventions establishing the organizations or by headquarters agreements,

—into the territory of Member States which are parties to the North Atlantic Treaty by the armed forces of other States which are parties to that Treaty for the use of such forces or the civilian staff accompanying them or for supplying their messes or canteens where such forces take part in the common defence effort:

(h)importation into ports by sea fishing undertakings of their catches, unprocessed or after undergoing preservation for marketing but before being supplied;

(i)the supply of services, in connection with the importation of goods where the value of such services is included in the taxable amount in accordance with Article 11 B (3) (b);

(j)importation of gold by Central Banks;

(k)import of gas through the natural gas distribution system, or of electricity.

2.The Commission shall submit to the Council at the earliest opportunity proposals designed to lay down Community tax rules clarifying the scope of the exemptions referred to in paragraph 1 and detailed rules for their implementation.

Until the entry into force of these rules, Member States may:

—maintain their national provisions in force on matters related to the above provisions,

—adapt their national provisions to minimize distortion of competition and in particular the non-imposition or double imposition of value added tax within the Community,

—use whatever administrative procedures they consider most appropriate to achieve exemption.

Member States shall inform the Commission, which shall inform the other Member States, of the measures they have adopted and are adopting pursuant to the preceding provisions.