Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2005:737
Date: 2005-12-01
Language of the case: Dutch
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Taxation;Excise duties
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

Summary of the Judgment Tax provisions – Harmonisation of laws – Excise duties – Directive 92/12 – Products subject to excise duty – Determination of the Member State in which duty is chargeable (Council Directive 92/12, Arts 7, 8 and 22(3)) Directive 92/12 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products must be construed as meaning that where a private individual who is not operating commercially or with a view to making a profit acquires in one Member State, for his own personal requirements and those of other private individuals, products subject to excise duty which have been released for consumption in that Member State and arranges for them to be transported to another Member State on his behalf by a transport company established in that other State, Article 7 of that Directive, and not Article 8 thereof, is applicable, with the result that excise duty is also to be levied in that other State. For the purposes of applying Directive 92/12, products which are not held for private purposes, and thus do not fall under Article 8 of the directive, must necessarily be regarded as being held for commercial purposes and thus fall under Article 7. For Article 8 to apply, the products in question must have been transported personally by the private individual who purchased them. Under Article 7(6) of that directive, the excise duty paid in the first State is, in such a case, to be reimbursed in accordance with Article 22(3) of the directive. (see paras 29, 37, 53, operative part)