Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1997:82
Date: 1997-02-20
Language of the case: French
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Taxation;Indirect taxation
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: France

Summary of the Judgmen t 
Tax provisions — Harmonization of Uws — Indirect taxes on the raising of capital — Capital 
duty levied on capital companies in respect of certain transactions — Prohibition on levying other 
taxes in respect of the same transactions — Scope — Regional charge levied in France on vehicle 
registration certificates — Not covered 
(Council Directive 69/335, Art. 10) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-8/96 
Article 10 of Directive 69/335 concerning 
indirect taxes on the raising of capital — as 
amended by Directives 73/79, 73/80, 74/553 
and 85/303 — which lists the other indirect 
taxes with the same characteristics as capital 
duty or stamp duty on securities, collection 
of which is prohibited, must be interpreted 
as not precluding a tax such as the regional 
charge levied in France on vehicle registra­
tion certificates, in so far as the characteris­
tics of that charge differ in the following 
respects from those of the taxes prohibited 
under the provision in question: 
— it does not attach to the transfer of 
vehicles to a capital company but, more 
specifically, to their use on the road; 
— the detailed rules for calculating it are 
fundamentally different from those gov­
erning the capital duty harmonized by 
the Directive; 
— it is not payable in respect of contribu­
tions, loans or provision of services, 
occurring as part of the transactions 
referred to in Article 4 of the Directive; 
— since it is unrelated to the legal form of 
the entity which owns the vehicles in 
respect of which the levy is due, it cannot 
be linked to formalities to which compa­
nies may be made subject by reason of 
their legal form. 
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