On 20 December 2017, a proposal from the European Commission was published for a Council Directive to amend the EU VAT Directive (Directive 2006/112/EC) to make permanent the minimum standard VAT rate of 15%. Currently, the minimum standard rate of 15% is a temporary provision of the VAT Directive that was adopted as part of transitional rules and has been extended multiple times. The most recent extension is to expire 31 December 2017.