1. For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions apply:

(a) "Union's financial interests" means all revenues, expenditure and assets covered by, acquired through, or due to: (i) the Union budget;(ii) the budgets of the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies established pursuant to the Treaties or budgets directly or indirectly managed and monitored by them;

(b) "legal person" means an entity having legal personality under the applicable law, except for States or public bodies in the exercise of State authority and for public international organisations.

2. In respect of revenue arising from VAT own resources, this Directive shall apply only in cases of serious offences against the common VAT system. For the purposes of this Directive, offences against the common VAT system shall be considered to be serious where the intentional acts or omissions defined in point (d) of Article 3(2) are connected with the territory of two or more Member States of the Union and involve a total damage of at least EUR 10 000 000.

3. The structure and functioning of the tax administration of the Member States are not affected by this Directive.