Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2002:409
Date: 2002-07-02
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Right of establishment;Taxation;Freedom to provide services;Transport
Concepts: International carriage by road;Taxes and charges applicable to road transport
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Transport — Road transport — Permission for non-resident carriers to operate 
national goods transport services — Regulation No 3118/93 — Host Member State 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-115/00 
levying a motor vehicle tax on vehicles registered in the Member State of establishment 
and holding a cabotage authorisation — Not permissible 
(Council Regulation No 3118/93, Art. 6) 
2. Transport — Road transport — Tax provisions — Harmonisation of laws — Taxes 
on certain vehicles used for the carriage of goods by road and charges for the use of 
certain infrastructures — Directive 93/89 — Host Member State levying a motor 
vehicle tax on vehicles registered in the Member State of establishment and holding a 
cabotage authorisation — Not permissible 
(Council Regulation No 3118/93; Council Directive 93/89, Art. 5) 
1. Article 6 of Regulation No 3118/93 
laying down the conditions under 
which non-resident carriers may oper­
ate national road haulage services 
within a Member State, which provides 
that the performance of cabotage trans­
port operations is to be subject to the 
laws, regulations and administrative 
provisions in force in the host Member 
State in a number of areas, the latter 
constituting an exhaustive list which 
does not include either the obligation 
to register the vehicle in the host 
Member State or the obligation to pay 
the tax on motor vehicles, precludes 
national provisions of a host Member 
State which entail the latter levying 
vehicle tax on the use of motor vehicles 
for the carriage of goods by road on the 
ground that those vehicles have their 
regular base in the territory of that host 
Member State, and that they should 
therefore be registered there, when they 
are registered in the Member State of 
establishment and are used in the host 
Member State to carry out cabotage by 
road, in accordance with authori­
sations lawfully issued by the Member 
State of establishment. 
To require the carrier to register the 
vehicle in the host Member State would 
be the very negation of the freedom to 
provide the cabotage service by road, 
the exercise of which presupposes that 
the motor vehicle is registered in the 
Member State of establishment. Simi­
larly, to require a carrier to pay a tax 
on the motor vehicles in the host 
Member State, even though he has 
already paid such a tax in the Member 
State of establishment, would be 
contrary to the objective of Regulation 
No 3118/93, which is aimed at remov­
ing all restrictions against the person 
providing the services on the grounds 
of his nationality or the fact that he is 
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HOVES INTERNATIONALER TRANSPORT-SERVICE 
established in a different Member State 
from the one in which the service is to 
be provided. 
(see paras 54-56, 59, 
operative part 1) 
2. Article 5 of Directive 93/89 on the 
application by Member States of taxes 
on certain vehicles used for the carriage 
of goods by road and tolls and charges 
for the use of certain infrastructures, 
which provides that the taxes shall be 
charged 'solely by the Member State of 
registration', precludes national provi­
sions of a host Member State, within 
the meaning of Article 1(1) of Regu­
lation No 3118/93 laying down the 
conditions under which non-resident 
carriers may operate national road 
haulage services within a Member 
State, which entail the levying by the 
latter of vehicle tax on the use of motor 
vehicles for the carriage of goods by 
road on the ground that those vehicles 
have their regular base in the territory 
of that host Member State, and that 
they should therefore be registered 
there, when they are registered and 
the tax referred to in Article 3(1) of 
that directive has been paid in the 
Member State of establishment and 
those vehicles are used in the host 
Member State for cabotage by road, 
in accordance with authorisations law­
fully issued by the Member State of 
establishment. 
Even if Directive 93/89, which has 
harmonised the national systems of 
taxes on certain commercial vehicles, 
does not contain any conflict of law 
rule to determine which Member State 
is competent as regards registration 
and hence taxation, the objective of 
Regulation No 3118793, namely to 
encourage the development of cabotage 
services by road, combined with the 
harmonisation of taxes effected by 
Directive 93/89, could not be achieved 
if the host Member State were able, on 
the ground that a vehicle falls within 
the scope of the national law on the 
taxation of vehicles, require a carrier 
using that vehicle for cabotage to pay 
in respect of that vehicle one of the 
taxes referred to in that directive, when 
such a tax has already been paid in the 
Member State of establishment. 
(see paras 67, 70-72, 
operative part 2) 
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