# C_2006036EN.01001501.xml

| 11.2.2006 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 36/15 |
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11.2.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 36/15

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JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Third Chamber)

of 1 December 2005

in Joined Cases C-394/04 and C-395/05, References for a preliminary ruling from the Simvoulio tis Epikratias, Diagnostiko & Therapeftiko Kentro Athinon-Ygeia AE v Ipourgos Ikonomikon (1)

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(Sixth VAT Directive - Article 13A(1)(b) - Exemptions - Activities closely related to hospital and medical care - Provision of telephone services and hiring out of televisions to in-patients - Provision of beds and meals to persons accompanying in-patients)

(2006/C 36/28)

Language of the case: Greek

In Joined Cases C-394/04 and C-395/04: references for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC from the Simvoulio tis Epikratias (Greece), made by decisions of 16 June 2004, received at the Court on 17 September 2004, in the proceedings between Diagnostiko & Therapeftiko Kentro Athinon-Ygeia AE and Ipourgos Ikonomikon — the Court (Third Chamber), composed of A. Rosas, President of the Chamber, J.-P. Puissochet, S. von Bahr, U. Lõhmus and A. Ó Caoimh (Rapporteur), Judges; P. Léger, Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, gave a judgment on 1 December 2005, the operative part of which is as follows:

| 1. | The supply of telephone services and the hiring out of televisions to in-patients by persons covered by Article 13A(1)(b) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment, and the supply by those persons of beds and meals to people accompanying in-patients do not amount, as a general rule, to activities closely related to hospital and medical care within the meaning of that provision. It can be otherwise only if those supplies are essential to achieve the therapeutic objectives sought by the hospital and medical care and their basic purpose is not to obtain additional income for the supplier by carrying out transactions which are in direct competition with those of commercial enterprises liable for value added tax. |
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1.

The supply of telephone services and the hiring out of televisions to in-patients by persons covered by Article 13A(1)(b) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment, and the supply by those persons of beds and meals to people accompanying in-patients do not amount, as a general rule, to activities closely related to hospital and medical care within the meaning of that provision. It can be otherwise only if those supplies are essential to achieve the therapeutic objectives sought by the hospital and medical care and their basic purpose is not to obtain additional income for the supplier by carrying out transactions which are in direct competition with those of commercial enterprises liable for value added tax.

| 2. | It is for the referring court, taking account of all of the specific facts in the litigation before it and, if appropriate, of the content of the medical prescriptions drawn up for the patients concerned, to determine whether the services supplied satisfy those conditions. |
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2.

It is for the referring court, taking account of all of the specific facts in the litigation before it and, if appropriate, of the content of the medical prescriptions drawn up for the patients concerned, to determine whether the services supplied satisfy those conditions.

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(1)  OJ C 273 of 06.11.2004.

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