On 7 May 2003 the Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union launched a public consultation on its website, which officially ended on 30 June 2003. The consultation was entitled "VAT and the Place of Supply of Services". The goal of this consultation was to provide interested parties with a report on the current status of the review of the place of supply of services rules and outline the framework in which the work has progressed. The consultation paper considers the idea of a change from the origin principle to the destination principle with respect to the place of taxation of services supplied to taxable persons. In the course of conducting the review of the place of supply of services rules, two other issues have arisen and warrant comment: the meaning of "fixed establishment" and the "VAT Information Exchange System (VIES)" for services. Daniela Huemer deals with these issues from the point of view of the Austrian Value Added Tax Law.