EN Official Journal of the European Union C 184/17

Action brought on 4 April 2014 — European Commission v Kingdom of Belgium

(Case C-163/14)

2014/C 184/21

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: F. Clotuche-Duvieusart and I. Martínez del Peral, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Kingdom of Belgium

Form of order sought

— declare that, by failing to grant the institutions and bodies of the European Union the exemption provided for by the second subparagraph of Article 3 of the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union from the contributions established by Article 26 of the Order concerning the organisation of the electricity market in the Brussels-Capital Region, and by Article 20 of the Order concerning the organisation of the gas market in the Brussels-Capital Region, as amended and by precluding the reimbursement of those contributions thereby paid by the Region, the Kingdom of Belgium failed to fulfil its obligations under the second subparagraph of Article 3 of the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union;

— order Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The Orders of 19 July 2001 concerning the organisation of the electricity market in the Brussels-Capital Region and of 1 April 2004 concerning the organisation of the gas market in the Brussels-Capital Region, as amended, provide for the payment of duties by the suppliers of electricity and gas in favour of the Brussels-Capital Region. Those regional contributions are then invoiced to the end consumers and therefore to the institutions of the European Union at the time of the supply of electricity or gas in accordance with the wattage made available to the end customers (for electricity) or the meter-readings at the end customers’ premises (for gas).

The Commission considers that those regional contributions must be classified as indirectly collected by the Belgian authorities at the time of large purchases made by the institutions for their official use and incorporated in the price of electricity and gas which is invoiced to them. The Commission points out that it is not necessary, for the purpose of identifying an indirect tax, that there be express provision in the legislation for an end customer pass-on requirement and that it is decisive that there is a tax levied at the time of consumption or the incurring of expenditure. As a consequence, it considers that the Belgian State is obliged under the second subparagraph of Article 3 of the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union to reimburse those indirect duties or sales taxes to the institutions of the European Union.

The Commission claims that those regional contributions may not be classified as a mere charge for a public utility service and that they therefore do not fall within the exception to the exemption provided for by the third subparagraph of Article 3 of the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union. Those contributions are intended to finance various public service tasks and partially finance various policies implemented by the public authorities with social objectives (for example, social tariff, minimum supplies of electricity to households) or environmental (for example, promotion of sustainable energy use). Those taxes do not amount to payment for a service supplied specifically to the institutions.