Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1997:218
Date: 1997-04-24
Language of the case: German
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Taxation;Value added tax
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgmen t 
Tax provisions — Harmonization of Uws — Turnover taxes — Common system of value added 
tax — Supplies of services — Determination of the relevant place for tax purposes — Services of 
consultants, engineers, consultancy bureaux, Uwyers, accountants and other simiUr services — 
Definition — Services of a member of an arbitration tribunal — Excluded 
(Council Directive 77/388, Art. 9(2)(e), third indent) 
I - 4857 
SUMMARY — CASE C-145/96 
Article 9(2)(e), third indent, of the Sixth 
Directive 77/388 on the harmonization of 
the laws of the Member States relating to 
turnover taxes, which provides, as part of the 
special rules governing services supplied to 
customers established outside the Commu­
nity or to taxable persons established in the 
Community but not in the same country as 
the supplier, that the place where the services 
of consultants, engineers, consultancy 
bureaux, lawyers, accountants and other 
similar services are supplied is to be the place 
where the customer has established his busi­
ness or has a fixed establishment to which 
the service is supplied, uses the professions 
mentioned as a means of defining the catego­
ries of services to which it refers. On a 
proper construction, it does not refer to the 
services of a member of an arbitration tribu­
nal. 
The services of an arbitrator, which are prin­
cipally and habitually those of settling a dis­
pute between two or more parties, do not 
fall within the category of those carried out 
by a lawyer, which are principally and 
habitually those of representing or defending 
the interests of a person, or of those carried 
out by a consultant, engineer, consultancy 
bureau or accountant, since none of the ser­
vices principally and habitually provided as 
part of any of those professions concerns the 
settling of a dispute between two or more 
parties. Nor can the services of an arbitrator 
be regarded as similar, within the meaning of 
Article 9(2)(e), to those of the professions 
listed in that provision since, based as they 
are on considerations of justice and equity, 
they do not serve the same purposes as those 
of a lawyer taking part in a negotiation with 
a view to reaching an agreement, which are 
essentially based on expediency and the 
weighing-up of interests, or of a consultant, 
engineer, consultancy bureau or accountant. 
I - 4858