VPROTEQUIP2020 | Protective equipment: Protective boots and helmets for industrial use: 1989 changes

The zero rating of protective boots and helmets was challenged in 1988, when the European Commission brought a case before the European Court of Justice claiming that the UK’s zero rating of protective boots and helmets to employers was a breach of the EC Sixth Directive, which states that zero rates must be for the benefit of the final consumer. We were unable to convince the court that this did apply in the case of boots and helmets supplied to employers for the use of their employees. The law was thus redrafted on 1 April 1989 to limit the relief to supplies of boots and helmets supplied to a person for use otherwise by employees of his.