Council Directive 2009/132/ECShow full title

Article 81 U.K.

1. The following shall be exempt on admission:

(a) documents sent free of charge to the public services of Member States;

(b) publications of foreign governments and publications of official international bodies intended for distribution without charge;

(c) ballot papers for elections organised by bodies set up in countries outside the Community;

(d) objects to be submitted as evidence or for like purposes to the courts or other official agencies of the Member States;

(e) specimen signatures and printed circulars concerning signatures sent as part of customary exchanges of information between public services or banking establishments;

(f) official printed matter sent to the central banks of the Member States;

(g) reports, statements, notes, prospectuses, application forms and other documents drawn up by companies with headquarters outside the Community and sent to the bearers or subscribers of securities issued by such companies;

(h) recorded media (punched cards, sound recordings, microfilms, etc.) used for the transmission of information sent free of charge to the addressee, in so far as exemption does not give rise to abuses or to major distortions of competition;

(i) files, archives, printed forms and other documents to be used in international meetings, conferences or congresses, and reports on such gatherings;

(j) plans, technical drawings, traced designs, descriptions and other similar documents imported with a view to obtaining or fulfilling orders outside the Community or to participating in a competition held in the Community;

(k) documents to be used in examinations held in the Community by institutions set up outside the Community;

(l) printed forms to be used as official documents in the international movement of vehicles or goods, within the framework of international conventions;

(m) printed forms, labels, tickets and similar documents sent by transport undertakings or by undertakings of the hotel industry located outside the Community to travel agencies set up in the Community;

(n) printed forms and tickets, bills of lading, way-bills and other commercial or office documents which have been used;

(o) official printed forms from national or international authorities, and printed matter conforming to international standards sent for distribution by associations established outside the Community to corresponding associations located in the Community;

(p) photographs, slides and stereotype mats for photographs, whether or not captioned, sent to press agencies to newspaper or magazine publishers;

(q) articles listed in Annex I which are produced by the United Nations or one of its specialised agencies whatever the use for which they are intended;

(r) collectors’ pieces and works of art of an educational, scientific or cultural character which are not intended for sale and which are imported by museums, galleries and other institutions approved by the competent authorities of the Member States for the purpose of duty-free admission of these goods;

(s) importations of official publications issued under the authority of the country or territory of export, international institutions, regional or local authorities and bodies under public law established in the country or territory of export, and printed matter distributed on the occasion of elections to the European Parliament or on the occasion of national elections in the country in which the printed matter originates by foreign political organisations officially recognised as such in the Member States, in so far as such publications and printed matter have been subject to tax in the country or territory of export and have not benefited from remission of tax on export.

2. The exemption referred to in paragraph 1(r) is granted only on condition that the articles in question are imported free of charge or, if they are imported against payment, that they are not supplied by a taxable person.