Case C‑592/15

Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs

v

British Film Institute

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the
Court of Appeal of England and Wales (Civil Division))

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Value added tax — Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC — Article 13A(1)(n) — Exemptions for certain cultural services — No direct effect — Determination of the exempt cultural services — Discretion of the Member States)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 15 February 2017

Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Exemptions provided for in the Sixth Directive — Exemptions for certain activities in the public interest — Article 13A(1)(n) — Exemption for certain cultural services — No direct effect

(Council Directive 77/388, Art. 13A(1)(n))

Article 13A(1)(n) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes

Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment, exempting ‘certain cultural services’, must be interpreted as not being of direct effect, so that in the absence of transposition that provision may not be relied on directly by a body governed by public law or other cultural body recognised by the Member State concerned supplying cultural services.

The literal interpretation of Article 13A(1)(n) of the Sixth Directive is confirmed by the history of the directive and the objectives pursued by the EU legislature.

It must therefore be considered that, by referring to ‘certain cultural services’, Article 13A(1)(n) of the Sixth Directive does not require the exemption of all cultural services, so that the Member States may exempt ‘certain’ of them while subjecting others to VAT.

(see paras 19, 23, 28, operative part)