(1) The existing value added tax
(VAT) exemption of postal services under the Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC of the Council of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws o
f the Member States relating to turnover taxes – common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment, is limited solely to public postal operators, and the resulting discrepancy, whereby those
services are exempt if they are supplied by public operators but taxed if supplied by private operators, gives rise to distort
...[+++]ions of competition.