News article

Digitisation of the certificate of VAT exemption for diplomatic and consular relations, international organisations and suchlike

Article 151 of the VAT Directive provides for a VAT exemption, under certain conditions, for, among other things, the supply of goods and services in the context of diplomatic and consular relations or to certain international organisations.

In order to apply this exemption in Belgium today, an ‘exemption document’ must be used. Depending on the case, this may be an e-certificate, a document 450 or a certificate 151 (European certificate for exemption from VAT and excise duties). In special cases, a visa exemption permit can be used, or for certain European institutions a purchase order or a specific mention in the contract.

Today, certificate 151 or document 450 are still paper documents. At its meeting of 18 February 2025, the European Council adopted a proposal for a directive (document 16628/24) and a proposal for an implementing regulation (document 16629/24) to digitise this procedure. At the same time, the annex containing the model of the paper certificate 151 was updated.

In short, the new procedure means that the recipient of the exempted supply of goods or services (the ‘beneficiary institution or person’) issues the certificate and signs it electronically together with the host Member State (the Member State where the exemption is applied). The beneficiary signing the certificate for the VAT exemption will always be liable for the VAT due on the supply of goods or services if it turns out that not all the conditions for that exemption have been met.

The technical details and specifications regarding the electronic format of the certificate and its processing will be made available by the Commission. The Commission will also carry out the development, maintenance, hosting and technical management of the central IT system for the storage and processing of the electronic certificates.

Member states must comply with these new regulations by 30 June 2031 at the latest, but for actions carried out up to and including 30 June 2032, member states may continue to use a paper version of the 151 certificate, or a paper version of another document or another electronic system they use (transitional arrangement).