Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2001:109
Date: 2001-02-22
Language of the case: Portuguese
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Taxation;Provisions governing the Institutions;Internal taxation
Concepts: Prohibition of taxation on imported products in excess of that imposed on similar domestic products;Optional or mandatory reference
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Portugal

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Preliminary rulings — Reference to the Court — Questions of interpretation — 
Obligation on the courts of a Member State to make a reference — Commission 
discontinuing infringement proceedings against that Member State — Not relevant 
(EC Treaty, Art. 177, third para, (now Art. 234, third para., EC» 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-393/98 
2. Tax provisions — Internal taxation — Registration tax for second-hand vehicles — 
Calculation of the actual depreciation of imported vehicles on the basis of fixed criteria 
or scales — Whether permissible — Condition — Amount of the tax not exceeding 
the residual tax incorporated in similar vehicles in the national market 
(EC Treaty, Art. 95, first para, (now, after amendment, Art. 90, first para., EC) 
1. The fact that the Commission discon­
tinues infringement proceedings 
against a Member State concerning a 
piece of legislation has no effect on the 
obligation upon a court of last instance 
of that Member State to refer to the 
Court of Justice, pursuant to the third 
paragraph of Article 177 of the EC 
Treaty (now the third paragraph of 
Article 234 EC), a question of Com­
munity law in relation to the legislation 
concerned. 
(see para. 19, operative part 1) 
2. The first paragraph of Article 95 of the 
Treaty (now, after amendment, the first 
paragraph of Article 90 EC) does not 
permit a Member State to apply to 
second-hand vehicles imported from 
other Member States a system of taxa­
tion in which the depreciation in the 
actual value of those vehicles is calcu­
lated in a general and abstract manner, 
on the basis of fixed criteria or scales 
determined by a legislative provision, a 
regulation or an administrative provi­
sion, unless those criteria or scales are 
capable of guaranteeing that the 
amount of the tax due does not exceed, 
even in a few cases, the amount of the 
residual tax incorporated in the value 
of similar vehicles already registered in 
the national territory. 
(see para. 44, operative part 2) 
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