44Furthermore, although the Protocol contains no definition of a direct tax and no provisions were adopted for the purpose of implementing the Protocol, some criteria for interpretation of that term are provided by Council Directive 77/799/EEC of 19 December 1977 concerning mutual assistance by the competent authorities of the Member States in the field of direct taxation (OJ 1977 L 336, p. 15). That directive, the scope of application of which, prior to its amendment by Council Directive 79/1070/EEC of 6 December 1979, was restricted solely to direct taxes, defined, in Article 1(2) thereof, tax on income and on capital, including in that term taxes on total capital, or on elements of capital, irrespective of the manner in which they are levied. As regards the tax which, according to the Commission and the Council, will be borne by the Communities, it is common ground that it is levied on the basis of Article 3(1)(c) of the Order and relates to the owners of real property rights in buildings. Since that tax is imposed directly on persons on the basis of their assets or their real property rights having a value as assets, it could be regarded as being levied on an element of capital within the meaning of Directive 77/799.
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