Article 14 (6) of the Energy Efficiency Directive allows Member States to exempt certain installations from the requirements of conducting a cost-benefit analysis of individual installations as stated by Article 14 (5). This report compares MS notifications on exemptions concerning laying down thresholds with general benchmark thresholds and with thresholds estimated through a general techno-economic model. Finally, this report provides recommendations how the exemptions thresholds ought to be defined, in order not to a priori exclude feasible heat linking options