Order — ECLI:EU:C:2011:479
Date: 2011-07-13
Language of the case: Romanian
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Subject matter: Taxation;Internal taxation
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Romania

Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Curtea de Apel Timişoara (Romania) lodged on 8 December 2010 - Sergiu Alexandru Micşa v Administraţia Finanţelor Publice Lugoj, Direcţia Generală a Finanţelor Publice Timiş, Administraţia Fondului pentru Mediu (Case C-573/10) Language of the case: Romanian Referring court Curtea de Apel Timişoara Parties to the main proceedings Applicant: Sergiu Alexandru Micşa Defendants: Administraţia Finanţelor Publice Lugoj, Direcţia Generală a Finanţelor Publice Timiş, Administraţia Fondului pentru Mediu Questions referred Must Article 110 TFEU be interpreted as meaning that it precludes exemption from payment of pollution tax on the first registration in the territory of a Member State of vehicles with specific, precisely designated, technical characteristics where other vehicles are subject to payment of the tax under national provisions. If Article 110 TFEU precludes the exemption referred to in the first question only in certain circumstances, do such circumstances include a situation in which all, the majority or a significant number of motor vehicles produced on national territory have technical characteristics which entail the exemption (bearing in mind that such characteristics are also found in motor vehicles produced in other Member States of the EU and that the exemption applies to those, too). If the second question is answered in the affirmative, what are the characteristics of a product which make it similar, within the meaning of Article 110 TFEU, to a motor vehicle which has all the following characteristics: a - it is new (or has not previously been sold for a purpose other than resale or supply and therefore has never been registered) or it is second-hand and has been registered in a Member State of the European Union during the period from 15 December 2008 to 31 December 2009 inclusive; b - it was designed and built for the transport of passengers and has, in addition to the driver's seat, at most eight seats (vehicles in category M1, under the Romanian legislation) or was designed and built for the transport of goods with a maximum weight of 3.5 tons (vehicles in category NI, under the Romanian legislation); c - it falls within pollution class Euro 4; d - it has a cylinder capacity of less than 2000 cc (a characteristic to be taken into account only in the case of vehicles in category MI). ____________