not equal having a fixed establishment (cf. Art. 11 No. 3 Reg.). These provisions are important for purposes of determining the place of supply of a Business-to-Business transaction pursuant to Art. 44 of the VAT Directive. Concepts of status, capacity and location of the customer (Art. 17-25 Reg.) The correct application of the rules based on the place of supply of services relies mainly on the status of the customer as a taxable person or non-taxable person, and on the capacity in which he is acting. EU established customer As mentioned in Art. 18 No. 1a of the Regulation a customer can be assumed as being a taxable person if the customer has communicated his VAT number and the supplier obtains confirmation of the validity of that identification number. The validity can be checked at the web site of the European Commission. Where the customer has not received a VAT number yet (Art. 18 No. 1b Reg.) the supplier shall obtain any other proof which demonstrates that the customer is a taxable person; and the supplier carries out a reasonable level of verification of the accuracy of the information. In accordance with Art. 18 No. 2 of the Regulation the customer is a non-taxable person if no identification number is provided. Customer established outside EU According to Art. 18 Nr. 3a of the Regulation the customer can be regarded as a taxable person if he provides to the supplier a certificate issued by the competent tax authorities that the customer is engaged in economic activities in order to enable him to obtain a refund of VAT. If no such document is available the customer should provide to the supplier: VAT number or similar number; or any other proof that the customer is a taxable person, and the supplier carries out a reasonable level of verification of the accuracy of the information provided by the customer (cf. Art. 18 Nr. 3b Reg.). The improvement of those provisions for the suppliers is to reduce the VAT risk and strengthen the cases where the supplier acts in good faith. Capacity of the customer For the purpose of determining the place of supply in accordance with Art. 44 (Business-to-Business transactions) and Art. 45 (Business-to-Consumer transactions) of the VAT Directive, Art 19 of the Regulation clarifies that taxable persons or legal persons deemed to be taxable persons who receive services exclusively for private use, including