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Under the heading ‘Intra-Community acquisitions’, Article 38 of Decree-Law No 331 of 30 August 1993 harmonising tax provisions in various fields (GURI No 203, 30 August 1993, p. 12), provides: ‘1. [VAT] is payable on intra-Community acquisitions of goods within the territory of the State as part of the operation of an undertaking or the exercise of a trade or profession or, in any event, by legal persons, associations or other organisations referred to in the fourth paragraph of Article 4 of Decree No 633 of the President of the Republic of 26 October 1972 [(ordinary supplement to GURI, No 292, 11 November 1972) (‘Decree No 633’)] who are liable for payment of VAT within the territory of the State. 2. The acquisition, for consideration, of title to goods or any other real property right entitling the acquirer to enjoy the goods, dispatched or transported to the territory of the State from another Member State either by the supplier, as a person liable for payment of VAT, or by the acquirer, or by a third party acting on their behalf shall be considered an intra-Community acquisition. 3. Furthermore, the following shall be considered intra-Community acquisitions: … (b) the introduction into the territory of the State, by or on behalf of a person liable for payment of VAT, of goods from another Member State. The present provision also applies in the case of the dispatch or transport to the territory of the State, for the purpose of the operation of an undertaking, of goods from another undertaking whose activities are conducted by the same person in another Member State; (c) the acquisitions referred to in paragraph 2 by legal persons, associations and other organisations referred to in the fourth paragraph of Article 4 of [Decree No. 633], who are not liable for payment of VAT; (d) the introduction into the territory of the State, by or on behalf of the persons mentioned in point (c), of goods previously imported by them from another Member State; … 5. The following shall not be considered intra-Community acquisitions: (a) the introduction into the territory of the State of goods subject to processing operations or usual forms of handling as defined, respectively, in Article 1(3)(h) of Council Regulation [(EEC) No 1999/85 of 16 July 1985 on inward processing relief arrangements (OJ 1985 L 188, p. 1)] and Article 18 of Council Regulation [(EEC) No 2503/88 of 25 July 1988 on customs warehouses (OJ 1988 L 225, p. 1)], if the goods are subsequently transported or dispatched to the acquirer, who is liable for payment of VAT, in the Member State of origin or on his behalf in another Member State, or outside the territory of the Community; the introduction into the territory of the State of goods used temporarily for the supply of services or which, if imported, would benefit from temporary importation arrangements with total exemption from import duty; … 7. The tax shall not be payable in the event of an intra-Community acquisition in the territory of the State, by a taxable person in another Member State, of goods acquired by that taxable person in another Member State, subsequently dispatched or transported in the territory of the State to that taxable person’s own assignees liable for payment of VAT, or to legal persons referred to in the fourth paragraph of Article 4 of [Decree No. 633] liable for payment of VAT on intra-Community acquisitions, designated as liable for payment of the tax relating to the supply. 8. Intra-Community acquisitions made by agents without representation shall be considered as having been made in person.’