In the Netherlands case of Staatssecretaris van Financiën v Gemeente Vlaardingen (CJEU Case C-299/11) a municipality (G) owned several sports pitches which it let to tenants. The lettings were treated as exempt from VAT. G arranged for the pitches to be resurfaced by contractors and then resumed letting the pitches. The tax authority issued a ruling that G was required to account for VAT on the deemed supply of the pitches. G appealed and the case was referred to the CJEU for a ruling on the interpretation of article 5(7) of the EC Sixth Directive. The CJEU held that article 5(7)(a) ‘must be interpreted as meaning that the application by a taxable person for the purposes of an economic activity exempt from VAT of sports pitches which he owns and which he has had transformed by a third...