62019CO0803_INF
Order of the Court (Eighth Chamber) of 28 May 2020 – WWK Lebensversicherung auf Gegenseitigkeit
(Case C‑803/19)
(Reference for a preliminary ruling – Article 99 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice – Direct life assurance – Directives 2002/83/EC and 2009/138/EC – Right of renunciation – Recovery of sums paid to the insurance company by way of a tax on insurance premiums – Procedures )
Freedom of establishment – Freedom to provide services – Direct life assurance – Directives 2002/83 and 2009/138 – Policyholder’s right to cancellation – Exercise of the right to cancellation – Recovery of the payment by way of a tax on insurance premiums to the insured person – Procedures – National legislation excluding the recovery of the payment to the insured person by way of a tax on the insurance premiums collected by the insurance company – Whether permissible – Condition
(European Parliament and Council Directive 2002/83, Arts 35(1) and 36(1); European Parliament and Council Directive 2009/138, Arts 185(0 and 186(1))
(see paras 27-32, 37, operative part)
Operative part
Article 35 (1) of Directive 2002/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002 concerning life insurance, read together with Article 36(1) of that directive, and Article 185(1) of Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the taking-up and pursuit of the business of Insurance and Reinsurance (Solvency II), read together with Article 186(1) of that directive, must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation under which, in the event of cancellation by the policyholder of the insurance contract, the tax on insurance premiums, due by that policyholder, collected by the insurance company and paid by the latter to the State, is excluded from the sums that that company must reimburse to that policyholder, the latter having to claim reimbursement of that tax from the tax authorities or, where applicable, request compenstaion from the insurance company, in so far as the procedural methods provided for by the law applicable to the insurance contract in order to obtain the recovery of the sums paid in respect of that tax are not such as call into question the effectiveness of the right to cancellation which EU law confers on the policyholder, which is for the referring court to determine.