European Union – Value added tax. The Court of Justice of the European Union made a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of art 16 of Sixth Council Directive (EEC) 77/388 (on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment), as amended by Council Directive (EC) 2006/18, and arts 154 and 157 of Council Directive (EC) 2006/112 (on the common system of value added tax). The request had been made in proceedings between Equoland Soc. coop. arl (Equoland) and the Livorno Customs Agency (Italy) involving a decision of the latter requiring Equoland to pay VAT on the importation of goods not physically placed in a tax warehouse, even though Equoland had already paid that tax under the reverse charge mechanism.