Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2008:434
Date: 2008-07-17
Language of the case: Polish
Court formation: First Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Taxation;Value added tax;Internal taxation;Excise duties
Concepts: Prohibition of taxation on imported products in excess of that imposed on similar domestic products;Concept of value added tax and other similar taxes
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Poland

Summary of the Judgment 1. Tax provisions – Harmonisation of laws – Turnover taxes – Common system of value added tax – Prohibition on the levying of other domestic taxes which can be characterised as turnover taxes (Council Directive 77/388, Art. 33(1)) 2. Tax provisions – Internal taxation – Excise duty on any sale of motor vehicles before their first registration on national territory (Art. 90, first para., EC) 1. Article 33(1) of Sixth Directive 77/388 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes, as amended by Directive 91/680, is to be interpreted as not precluding an excise duty which is charged on all sales of motor vehicles before their first registration on national territory. Since such an excise duty is charged only on sales transactions relating to motor vehicles before their first registration on Polish territory, it cannot be considered as being charged in a general manner on all transactions relating to goods or services and, therefore, differs from value added tax to such an extent that it cannot be characterised as a turnover tax for the purposes of that article. (see paras 22-23, 25-26, operative part 1) 2. The first paragraph of Article 90 EC is to be interpreted as precluding an excise duty on all sales of motor vehicles before their first registration on national territory, in so far as the amount of the duty imposed on the sale of second-hand vehicles imported from another Member State exceeds the residual amount of the same duty incorporated into the market value of similar vehicles previously registered in the Member State which introduced that duty. It is for the national court to ascertain whether the national legislation has such an effect. (see para. 39, operative part 2)