§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what powers of treaty articles, regulations or directives of the European Community relating to VAT limit the discretion of national Governments or parliaments to determine the degree of retrospective application of judgments made in accordance with(a) treaty articles, (b) regulations, (c) national primary or secondary legislation, pursuant to directives and (d) the case of Primback v. Customs and Excise. [27572]
§ Mr. Heathcoat-Amory[holding answer 1 May 1996]: There are no treaty articles, regulations or directives of the European Community relating to VAT which specifically limit the discretion of national Governments or parliaments to determine the degree of retrospective application of judgments of the sort instanced above. Member states are entitled to operate national procedures limiting the number of years' overpaid tax which will be refunded, provided such rules do not discriminate between actions based on EC law and those based only on national law, or make it impossible in practice to exercise EC rights.