European Union – Customs and excise. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that art 27(1)(d) of Directive (EEC) 92/83 should be interpreted as meaning that the obligation to exempt the alcohol products covered by that directive from the harmonised excise duty when they were used for the production of medicine applied to ethyl alcohol used by an undertaking for cleaning or disinfecting equipment and facilities used in the production of medicines.