Case C-173/05: Action brought on 18 April 2005 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Italian Republic
Date: 2005-06-25
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: CCT duties, European Commission, Italy, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, charge having equivalent effect, gas pipeline

C 155/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

25.6.2005

8. Infringement of Article 39 EC.

9. Infringement of Article 49 EC.

10. Error in law as regards the definition of Community

interest.

second, Article 6(4) provides that the taxable persons are the
pipeline owners ‘which carry out at
the activities
(transport, sales, purchasing)’ relating to gas. The Commission
infers from this that the real objective of the Sicilian legislation
is to tax the product transported (methane) and not the infra-
structure (gas pipeline) as such.

least one of

Action brought on 18 April 2005 by the Commission of
the European Communities against the Italian Republic

(Case C-173/05)

(2005/C 155/11)

(Language of the case: Italian)

An action against the Italian Republic was brought before the
Court of Justice of the European Communities on 18 April
2005 by the Commission of the European Communities, repre-
sented by E. Traversa and J. Hottiaux, of its Legal Service.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

1. declare that, by enacting and maintaining in force the ‘envir-
onmental protection tax’ on gas pipelines laid down by
Article 6 of Sicilian Regional Law No 2 of 26 March 2002
(published in GURS (Official Journal of the Sicilian Region)
Part I No 14 of 2002), the Italian Republic has failed to
fulfil its obligations under Articles 23 EC, 25 EC, 26 EC and
133 EC and Articles 4 and 9 of the Cooperation Agreement
between the European Economic Community and the
People's Democratic Republic of Algeria signed on 26 April
1976 and approved by Council Regulation (EEC) No
2210/78 of 26 September 1978 (1);

According to the Court's case-law on internal taxation within
the meaning of Article 90 EC, a tax charged on the method of
transport according to the weight of the goods transported falls
within the scope of the Community provisions on taxation of
goods, since such a tax inevitably and immediately adds to the
cost of the good transported, whether national or imported. It
follows from the principle of interpretation set out in that case-
law, which is readily applicable to taxes having equivalent
effect to customs duty, that in the present case, the national
tax, even if formally chargeable on the means of transport (gas
pipelines) according to the volume of the good (methane) trans-
ported, in fact applies to the good itself and is inevitably and
directly added to its cost.

(1) OJ 1978 L 263 of 27.9.1978.

Reference for a preliminary ruling from the College van
Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven by judgment of that court
of 19 April 2005 in the proceedings between 1. Stichting
Zuid-Hollandse Milieufederatie, 2. Stichting Natuur en
Milieu and College voor de Toelating van Bestrijdingsmid-
delen; joined party: Bayer CropScience B.V.

(Case C-174/05)

2. order the Italian Republic to pay the costs.

(2005/C 155/12)

Pleas in law and main arguments

(Language of the case: Dutch)

Article 6 of the Sicilian Regional Law in question infringes the
principles of the Common Customs Tariff in so far as it estab-
lishes a tax having equivalent effect to an import duty (into the
Community) or export duty (to other Member States) prohib-
ited under
the Treaty and Community
the provisions of
secondary law referred to above.

From a formal point of view and according to the wording of
the contested legislation, the taxable event is the ownership of
the plant whereas the taxable amount is based on the volume,
in cubic metres, of the pipelines. However, the Sicilian legisla-
ture took care to specify, first, in Article 6(3), that the taxable
event is the ownership of the gas pipelines ‘containing the gas’;

Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the Euro-
pean Communities by judgment of the College van Beroep
voor het bedrijfsleven (Administrative Court
for Trade and
Industry) (Netherlands) of 19 April 2005, received at the Court
Registry on 19 April 2005, for a preliminary ruling in the
proceedings between 1. Stichting Zuid-Hollandse Milieufeder-
atie, 2. Stichting Natuur en Milieu and College voor de
Toelating van Bestrijdingsmiddelen (Board for the Authorisa-
tion of Pesticides); joined party: Bayer CropScience B.V., on the
following question: