taxud/2414/08 - European Commission - Europa

ensure the availability of cash where it is needed and contribute to the functioning of
money. In an increasing number of cases such dispensing activities also allow clients to
store money value in e-money storage devices (inter alia cards and mobile phones); such
storage can be linked to an account and would be covered by the exemption for account
operation services; in other cases cash is inserted into the machine, which will then
upload the e-money storage device with this amount; it is also possible that foreign
currency bank notes and coins are inserted into the machine for uploading a local
currency amount into the e-money storage device. In such cases the dispensing fulfils the
basic functions of "cash services" and the functioning of money by altering the financial
situation. There should not be difference in treatment between cash and book-money
where the nature of the service is the same. Cash dispensing should therefore be covered
by the exemption for "currency exchange services" and "cash services";
(b)
traveller cheque services;
Traveller cheque services involve the supply of a pre-printed, fixed amount cheque
designed to allow the person signing it to obtain cash or to make an unconditional
payment to someone else as a result of having paid the issuing financial institution for
that privilege. Such a cheque can usually be replaced if lost or stolen and is often used by
people on vacation in place of cash;
(c)
cheque services not related to a specific account;
Checks are not always related to a specific account, as negotiable instruments they can
also be used to obtain cash or for an unconditional payment;
(d)
letters of credit;
Letters of credit are documents providing a payment undertaking to a beneficiary against
complying documents as stated in the credit.
(e)
the exchange of bank notes and coins within the same currency.
These are also classic cash services, where bank notes are changes into coins or vice
versa.
2. The "provision of cash" as referred to in point (d) of Article 135(1) of Directive
2006/112/EC shall not cover the following:
(a)
transactions involving collectors' items, such as gold, silver or other metal coins
or bank notes normally not used as legal tender or coins of numismatic interest;
Such commodities are not used as legal tender and must therefore be excluded from the
definition of "provision of cash";
(b)
dispensing of currencies not of legal tender.
These are currencies which are not backed by a government, are not legal tender, for
example units of account and usually apply in a limited environment; they are often
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