European Union – Value added tax. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling deciding that art 132(1)(d) of Council Directive (EC) 2006/112 should be interpreted to the effect that supplies of human blood which member states were required to exempt by virtue of that provision did not include supplies of plasma obtained from human blood where that plasma was intended to be used, not for direct therapeutic purposes, but exclusively for the manufacture of medicinal products.