Information;Order — ECLI:EU:C:2023:946
Date: 2023-12-01
Language of the case: Bulgarian
Court formation: Seventh Chamber
Subject matter: Taxation;Value added tax
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Bulgaria

Summary C-574/22 – 1 
Case C-574/22 
Summary of the request for a preliminary ruling pursuant to Article 98(1) of 
the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice  
Date lodged: 
26 August 2022  
Referring court: 
Sofiyski gradski sad (Bulgaria) 
Date of the decision to refer: 
12 July 2022  
Accused persons: 
CI 
VF 
DY 
  
Subject matter of the main proceedings 
Criminal proceedings, substance of category 3 of Annex I to Regulation (ЕC) 
No 273/2004 
Subject matter and legal basis of the request 
The request for a preliminary ruling is made pursuant to point (b) of the first 
paragraph of Article 267 TFEU. 
Question referred for a preliminary ruling 
Do the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 of the European Parliament 
and of the Council of 11 February 2004, which supplement the blanket provision 
of Article 354a of the Nakazatelen kodeks (Criminal Code, Bulgaria; ‘the NK’) in 
conjunction with Article 3(4) of the Zakon za kontrol varhu narkotichnite 
veshtestva i prekursorite (Law on the control of narcotic substances and drug 
precursors; ‘the ZKNVP’), allow a person to be found guilty of possession of a 
EN 
SUMMARY OF THE REQUEST FOR A PRELIMINARY RULING – CASE C-574/22 
 
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category 3 substance as per Annex I, namely hydrochloric acid (hydrogen 
chloride) in a quantity of 585 millilitres (0.585 litres)? 
Provisions of international law relied on 
United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and 
Psychotropic Substances, Article 3 
Provisions of European Union law and case-law relied on 
Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
11 February 2004 on drug precursors, Article 2, Article 3(2) and (6), Article 8, 
Annex I 
Provisions of national law relied on 
Nakazatelen kodeks (Criminal Code, Bulgaria; ‘the NK’), Article 354a 
Zakon za kontrol varhu narkotichnite veshtestva i prekursorite (Law on the control 
of narcotic substances and drug precursors; ‘the ZKNVP’), Articles 1, 3 and 18a, 
Supplementary provisions, Paragraph 1, point 14 
Naredba Nº 1 za kontrol na prekursorite na narkotichnite veshtestva (Regulation 
No 1 on the control of drug precursors) of 18 April 2008, Articles 1, 11 and 18, 
Annex 1 
Succinct presentation of the facts and procedure in the main proceedings 
1 At approximately 9.40 p.m. on 23 April 2016, the accused persons CI and VF 
were sitting in a ‘Volkswagen Lupo’ passenger car with the registration number 
СА 6403 ТК, which was parked in front of house No 3 of 762nd Street in the 
district of ‘Ovcha Kupel’ in Sofia. The accused person DY was stood immediately 
next to the parked car and the nearby fence of a yard belonging to a house. 
2 At the same time, two patrolling police officers, the witnesses ZX and VW, drove 
down 762nd Street by car. 
3 As the witnesses ZX and VW approached the ‘Volkswagen Lupo’ passenger car, 
the accused person DY threw a small object onto the property of the nearby house. 
The police officers noticed the actions of the accused person DY, approached the 
‘Volkswagen Lupo’ passenger car, verified the identities of the accused persons 
CI, VF and DY and asked the latter what he had thrown onto the property. After 
the accused person denied having discarded anything, the witness ZX shone a 
torch on the spot where she had seen the discarded object fall and noticed a small 
plastic film ball filled with a white substance on the ground. The on-duty 
SOFIYSKA GRADSKA PROKURATURA 
 
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operational team of the 6th RU SDVR (6th Rayonno upravlenie na Stolichna 
direktsia na vartreshnite raboti, 6th District Police Office of the Metropolitan 
Directorate of Interior) was informed of the incident and the police officers 
remained at the scene in order to secure it until the team arrived. 
4 In the period from 11:[4]0 p.m. to 11.55 p.m. on 23 April 2016, the scene – house 
No 3 of 762nd Street in the ‘Ovcha Kupel’ district of Sofia – was investigated in 
the presence of witnesses, and the small polyethylene ball that the accused person 
DY had discarded was found. It was established that it contained a white powder 
and [was] sealed inside a small cardboard box, series A No 0307305. According 
to the physico-chemical analysis, the substance found at the scene is a mixture of 
amphetamine and caffeine with a net weight of 3.6 grams, the amphetamine 
constituting an active substance content of 13.8%. In the dactyloscopic 
examination, no fingerprints which could be used for identification were found on 
the packaging. 
5 The accused persons CI, VF and DY were arrested and taken to the 6th RU 
SDVR, where they were interviewed. In those interviews, the accused person CI 
informed the police officer KL, one of the witnesses, that, at a time not established 
in the preliminary investigation, the accused person VF had brought a bag 
containing methamphetamine precursors to his home, and he in turn had accepted 
to take it for safekeeping. 
6 In order to verify the information provided by the accused person CI, a search and 
seizure pursuant to Article 161(2) of the NPK was carried out on one floor of a 
house in Sofia in the presence of witnesses from 12:40 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. on 
24 April 2016. 
7 Property and items of relevance to the investigation were found during the search 
and were provisionally recorded in a report as follows: 
8 Three polyethylene bags were found in a cupboard in a room of the floor being 
searched, located just to the right of the staircase. The first bag contained a white 
plastic tube labelled ‘Hydrochloric acid 1L’, designated as object No 1, and a 
plastic tube of liquid labelled ‘Ravno pole, strawberry’, designated as object No 2. 
The second bag was found to contain a plastic tube of liquid bearing the label 
‘Phosphoric acid’, designated as object No 3; [list of items found]. A laptop bag 
was found next to the cupboard. That bag contained an orange plastic tube with a 
blue cap containing a crystal-like substance, designated as object No 15; a brown 
glass bottle with a white cap containing a liquid, designated as object No 16; a 
glass bottle containing a dark substance, designated as object No 17; a brown 
glass bottle labelled ‘Thioctacid’ containing a red powdery substance, designated 
as object No 18; a brown glass bottle of liquid, designated as object No 18A; [list 
of items found]. A piece of glass with a powdery substance on top of it, 
designated as object No 27, was found on the right armrest of an armchair in the 
same room. Found on the window sill in a room to the left of the staircase was a 
preserving jar with a lid containing a liquid with crystals, designated as object 
SUMMARY OF THE REQUEST FOR A PRELIMINARY RULING – CASE C-574/22 
 
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No 28, an electric hotplate, designated as object No 29, a black electronic scale, 
designated as object No 30, and a polyethylene bag containing a powder, 
designated as object No 31. 
9 The accused person CI was present during the search and stated, with regard to the 
items found, that the accused person VF had left them with him. 
10 The report on the operation carried out was submitted for approval within the 24-
hour time limit and was approved by the Sofiyski gradski sad (Sofia City Court). 
11 According to the report on the investigation carried out, the powder designated as 
object No 31 in the search has a net weight of 19.56 grams and an active 
substance content of amphetamine of 13.8%; traces of amphetamine and caffeine 
were found on the piece of mirror designated as object No 27 and on the black 
electronic scale designated as object No 30. 
12 According to the report on the investigation carried out, it was found that: the 
liquid in the plastic canister labelled ‘Hydrochloric acid’, designated as object 
No 1, is hydrochloric acid with a volume of 200 ml; the liquid in the plastic tube 
labelled ‘Ravno pole, strawberry’, designated as object No 2, is hydrochloric acid 
with a volume of 360 ml; the liquid in the plastic tube labelled ‘Phosphoric acid’, 
designated as object No 3, is phosphoric acid with a volume of 730 ml; the vial 
with the dark substance, designated as object No 17, contains iodine with a net 
weight of 42.5 grams; the brown glass vial labelled ‘Trioctacid’ contains red 
phosphorus with a net weight of 2.42 grams; the brown glass vial containing a 
liquid, designated as object No 18, contains phosphoric acid with a volume of 98 
ml; and the brown glass vial containing a liquid, designated as object No 18A, 
contains hydrochloric acid with a volume of 25 ml. 
13 According to the results of the investigation, the substances phosphoric acid, 
hydrochloric acid, iodine and red phosphorus can be used in a process for 
synthetically producing methamphetamine, whereby the synthesis from the 
starting material ephedrine/pseudoephedrine takes place via a reduction of the 
hydroxyl group of the ephedrine/pseudoephedrine molecule by heating in the 
presence of hydriodic acid and phosphorus. 
14 According to the results of the forensic valuation report, the value of the narcotic 
substance found during the investigation of the scene on 23 April 2016, with a net 
weight of 3.6 grams and an active substance content of amphetamine of 13.8%, is 
108 leva (BGN). The respective values of the substances found during the search 
and seizure on 24 April 2016 on the floor of a house in Sofia are as follows: the 
value of the hydrochloric acid with a volume of 200 ml is BGN 0.80; the value of 
the hydrochloric acid with a volume of 360 ml is BGN 1.44; and the value of the 
hydrochloric acid with a volume of 25 ml is BGN 0.20. The value of the narcotic 
substance with a net weight of 19.56 grams, and an active ingredient content of 
amphetamine of 13.8%, found during the search is BGN 586. 
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Succinct presentation of the reasoning in the request for a preliminary ruling 
15 In order to meet the requirements of Article 3(1)(a)(iv) and 3(1)(c)(ii) of the 
United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and 
Psychotropic Substances, the Criminal Code of the Republic of Bulgaria 
criminalises various acts involving substances that may serve as precursors in the 
drug manufacturing process. The chosen legislative approach of regulating in one 
single provision – namely Article 354a(1) of the NK – two criminal offences that 
differ from one another only in terms of the subject of the offence also 
predetermines the special features of the offence whose subject is drug precursors. 
16 Firstly, the second sentence of Article 354a(1) of the NK is a blanket provision, 
and for the act to constitute an offence it is necessary that its content be 
supplemented by the provisions of the Law on the control of narcotic substances 
and drug precursors (ZKNVP) and the regulations adopted pursuant to the law for 
its application. Reference is made to these provisions in relation to two aspects: a) 
the substances constituting precursors and b) the procedure and basis by which 
licences are granted to carry out activities relating to such substances. 
17 Article 1(3) of the special law ZKNVP transposes the requirements of Regulation 
(EC) No 273/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on drug 
precursors, on the one hand, and of Council Regulation (EC) No 111/2005 laying 
down rules for the monitoring of trade between the Community and third 
countries in drug precursors, on the other. 
18 The ZKNVP was implemented by Regulation No 1 of 18 April 2008 on the 
control of drug precursors. In Annex 1 thereto, the substances that may be used as 
precursors are divided into three categories, in accordance with the distinctions 
made in the two Community regulations. 
19 These considerations on the need to supplement the second sentence of 
Article 354a(1) of the NK and on the material scope of the ZKNVP, in so far as it 
concerns drug precursors, also justify the application of EU law to the case at 
issue in the main proceedings. 
20 The second special feature of the offence set out under the second sentence of 
Article 354a(1) of the NK is that, for the act to constitute an offence, it is 
necessary that it be an activity involving production, processing, acquisition, 
possession or distribution of precursors without an appropriate licence. Except in 
cases involving what are known as highly dangerous narcotic substances, the 
prohibition of which results from the law itself, in all other cases, including cases 
relating to the possession of precursors intended for the production of narcotic 
substances, an appropriate licence is understood to be a legal act of a government 
authority authorising the holder to lawfully carry out the activity of production, 
processing, acquisition, possession or distribution of the substances in question, 
where this occurs for medical, scientific or research purposes. In the absence of 
SUMMARY OF THE REQUEST FOR A PRELIMINARY RULING – CASE C-574/22 
 
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such a legal act, the objective element of the offence ‘without an appropriate 
licence’ is satisfied. 
21 One element constituting the subject of the offence in the main proceedings, 
namely the 585 ml, or 0.585 l, of hydrochloric acid (hydrogen chloride), falls 
within category 3 of Annex 1 to Regulation No 1 of 18 April 2008 and within the 
same category in Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 of the European Parliament and of 
the Council on drug precursors. There is no provision to the effect that a licence or 
registration would be required to engage in activities relating to substances in this 
category, and in particular to the possession of such substances, regardless of 
whether the accused is considered to be an operator within the meaning of 
Article 2(d) of Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 (in so far as the charge brought is 
that the criminalised substances were intended for further sale) or a user within the 
meaning of Article 2(h) of that Regulation (in so far as CI and VF are charged 
with possession of a listed substance). Although, in relation to the substances in 
the first two categories of Annex 1, national case-law has established that the act 
is carried out without an appropriate licence, in so far as the licences (for category 
1 substances) or registrations (for category 2 substances) required by the ZKNVP 
and Regulation No 1 are missing, the national courts merely point out that 
category 3 substances are subject to control under Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 
of the European Parliament [and of the Council], without stating what substantive 
requirements apply to activities involving category 3 substances and whether a 
specific legal act issued by a government authority is required for their 
acquisition, possession and use. It is only in the decision under review, which is 
the subject of the main proceedings, that the lack of an appropriate licence is, as 
an objective element of the offence set out under the second sentence of 
Article 354a(1) of the NK, based on the purpose of the substance, namely the 
production of narcotic substances.