Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2013:839
Date: 2013-12-12
Language of the case: German
Subject matter: Taxation
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 3 April 2014 Tax provisions — Harmonisation of laws — Taxation of energy products and electricity — Directive 2003/96 — Taxation of products not listed in the directive at the rate applicable to the equivalent heating fuel or motor fuel — Concept of equivalence (Council Directive 2003/96, Art. 2(3); Annex I) The condition, laid down in Article 2(3) of Directive 2003/96 restructuring the Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity, according to which energy products other than those for which a level of taxation is specified in the directive are to be taxed according to use, at the rate for the equivalent heating fuel or motor fuel, must be construed as meaning that it must be determined, first, whether the product at issue is used as heating fuel or motor fuel, before identifying, secondly, for which of the motor fuels or the heating fuels, as the case may be, listed in the corresponding table in Annex I to that directive the product at issue is in fact a substitute in terms of use or, failing that, which of those motor fuels or those heating fuels is, by its properties and intended use, the closest to it. Interpreting, in so far as it is at all possible, the concept of ‘product equivalence’ from the perspective of the substitutability or interchangeability of the energy products at issue, will ensure that two products performing the same function are taxed at the same level. (see paras 35, 36, 38, operative part)