Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2001:580
Date: 2001-10-25
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Taxation;Value added tax;Internal taxation
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Finland

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Tax provisions — Internal taxation — System of taxation of imported used cars — 
Determination of taxable value — Reference to the Community Customs Code — 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-101/00 
Whether permissible — Variation according to the marketing stage — Condition of 
permissibility — Amount of the tax not exceeding the residual tax incorporated in the 
value of a similar vehicle on the domestic market 
(EC Treaty, Art. 95, 1st para, (now, after amendment, Art 90 EC, 1st para.)) 
2. Tax provisions — Internal taxation — System of taxation of imported used cars — 
Tax equal to the tax due on a similar new vehicle during the first six months after 
registration or bringing into use and reduced in linear fashion from the seventh 
month — Not permissible 
(EC Treaty, Art. 95, 1st para, (now, after amendment, Art 90 EC, 1st para.)) 
3. Tax provisions — Internal taxation — System of taxation of imported used cars — 
Flat-rate calculation of the actual depreciation on the basis of general and abstract 
criteria — Conditions of permissibility — Exclusion of any discriminatory effect — 
Publication of the criteria — Possibility of challenging the application of the flat-rate 
calculation in individual cases 
(EC Treaty, Art. 95, 1st para, (now, after amendment, Art. 90 EC, 1st para.)) 
4. Tax provisions — Harmonisation of laws — Turnover taxes — Common system of 
value added tax — Prohibition of levying other national charges which can be 
characterised as turnover taxes — Meaning of 'turnover taxes' — Scope — Finnish 
duty called 'value added tax' levied on car tax — Excluded 
(Council Directive 77/388, Art. 33) 
5. Tax provisions — Internal taxation — System of taxation of imported used cars — 
Tax charged on car tax — Condition of permissibility — Amount of the tax not 
exceeding the residual tax incorporated in the value of a similar vehicle on the domestic 
market 
(EC Treaty, Art. 95, 1st para, (now, after amendment, Art. 90 EC, 1st para.)) 
1. The first paragraph of Article 95 of the 
Treaty (now, after amendment, the 
first paragraph of Article 90 EC) 
allows a Member State to apply to 
used vehicles imported from another 
Member State a system of taxation 
under which the taxable value is deter­
mined by reference to the customs 
value as defined by Regulation 
No 2913/92 establishing the Commu­
nity Customs Code and Regulation 
No 2454/93 laying down provisions 
for the implementation of Regulation 
No 2913/92, but precludes the taxable 
value from varying according to the 
marketing stage where this may result, 
at least in certain cases, in the amount 
of the tax on an imported used car 
exceeding the amount of the residual 
tax incorporated in the value of a 
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similar used car already registered in 
the national territory. 
(see para. 61, operative part 1) 
2. The first paragraph of Article 95 of the 
Treaty (now, after amendment, the 
first paragraph of Article 90 EC) pre­
cludes a Member State from applying 
to used cars imported from another 
Member State a system of taxation 
under which the tax on those vehicles 
— is equal, during the first six months 
from the registration or bringing 
into use of the vehicle, to the tax 
charged on a similar new vehicle, 
and 
— is equal, from the 7th to the 150th 
month of use of the vehicle, to the 
tax on a similar new vehicle, with a 
linear reduction by a percentage of 
0.5% per full calendar month, 
since such a system of taxation does 
not take the actual depreciation of the 
vehicle into account and does not 
provide a guarantee that the amount 
of tax it determines will in no case 
exceed the residual tax incorporated in 
the value of a similar used car already 
registered in the national territory. 
(see para. 80, operative part 2) 
3. Where a Member State applies to used 
cars imported from other Member 
States a system of taxation under which 
the actual depreciation of the vehicles 
is defined in a general and abstract way 
on the basis of criteria laid down by 
national law, the first paragraph of 
Article 95 of the Treaty (now, after 
amendment, the first paragraph of 
Article 90 EC) requires that system of 
taxation to be arranged in such a way, 
making allowance for the reasonable 
approximations inherent in any system 
of that type, as to exclude any dis­
criminatory effect. That requirement 
presupposes, first, that the criteria on 
which the flat-rate method of calculat­
ing the depreciation of vehicles is based 
are made public and, second, that the 
owner of a used vehicle imported from 
another Member State is able to chal­
lenge the application of a flat-rate 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-101/00 
method of calculation to that vehicle, 
which may mean that its particular 
characteristics have to be examined in 
order to ensure that the tax applied to 
it does not exceed the residual tax 
incorporated in the value of a similar 
used vehicle already registered in the 
national territory. 
(see para. 89, operative part 3) 
4. A tax such as that under Paragraph 5 of 
the Finnish law on car tax, described in 
national law as 'value added tax' on 
car tax, does not constitute 'value 
added tax' within the meaning of the 
Sixth Directive 77/388 on the harmon­
isation of the laws of the Member 
States relating to turnover taxes, in the 
version of Directive 92/111 amending 
Directive 77/388 and introducing sim­
plification measures with regard to 
value added tax, and is compatible 
with Article 33 of that directive. 
(see para. 107, operative part 4) 
5. The first paragraph of Article 95 of the 
Treaty (now, after amendment, the 
first paragraph of Article 90 EC) pre­
cludes the levying of a tax such as that 
under Paragraph 5 of the Finnish law 
on car tax, which is payable on car tax, 
in so far as the amount charged as such 
a tax on a used car imported from 
another Member State exceeds the 
amount of the residual tax incorpor­
ated in the value of a similar used car 
already registered in the national terri­
tory. 
(see para. 117, operative part 5) 
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