Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2019:184
Date: 2019-03-07
Language of the case: French
Subject matter: Taxation;Value added tax
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: France

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil d'Etat (France) lodged on 23 February 2018 — Regards Photographiques SARL v Ministre de l’Action et des Comptes publics (Case C-145/18) Language of the case: French Referring court Conseil d'Etat Parties to the main proceedings Applicant: Regards Photographiques SARL Defendant: Ministre de l’Action et des Comptes publics (Minister for the Public Sector and Public Accounts) Questions referred ‘Must the provisions of Articles 103 and 311 of Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 1 and paragraph 7 of part A in Annex IX thereto, be interpreted as meaning that they require only that the photographs are taken by their photographer, printed by him or under his supervision, signed and numbered up to a maximum of 30 copies, all sizes and mounts included, in order to be able to benefit from the reduced rate of VAT? If the answer to the first question is yes, are Member States nevertheless permitted to exclude from the benefit of the reduced rate of VAT photographs that are not, in addition, artistic in character? If the answer to the first question is no, what other conditions must the photographs satisfy in order to benefit from the reduced rate of VAT? In particular, must they show an artistic character? Must those conditions be interpreted uniformly within the European Union, or do they refer to the law or each Member state, in particular in the field of intellectual property?’ ____________ 1 Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1).