European Union – Customs and excise. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled, among other things, that art 14(1)(a) of Council Directive (EC) 2003/96, read in conjunction with art 7 of Council Directive (EC) 2008/118 precluded a refusal by the national authorities to exempt from excise duty energy products which, after having been sold by an authorised warehousekeeper to an intermediate purchaser, were sold on to an excise duty exempt end user, on the sole ground that the intermediate purchaser did not have the status of excise duty exempt end user.