Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of  1 December 2005  in Joined Cases C-394/04 and C-395/05, References for a preliminary ruling from the Simvoulio tis Epikratias, Diagnostiko & Therapeftiko Kentro Athinon-Ygeia AE v Ipourgos Ikonomikon (Sixth VAT Directive — Article 13A(1)(b) — Exemptions — Activities closely related to hospital and medical care — Provision of telephone services and hiring out of televisions to in-patients — Provision of beds and meals to persons accompanying in-patients)
Date: 2006-02-11
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: VAT, hiring, hospitalisation, interpretation of the law, tax harmonisation

11.2.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 36/15

the laws,

1. Declares that, by failing to adopt

regulations and
administrative provisions necessary to fully transpose Council
Directive 1999/38/EC of 29 April 1999 amending for the
second time Directive 90/394/EEC on the protection of workers
from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens at work and
extending it to mutagens, the Republic of Austria has failed to
fulfil its obligations under that directive;

2. Orders the Republic of Austria to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 262 of 23.10.2004

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Third Chamber)

of 1 December 2005

in Joined Cases C-394/04 and C-395/05, References for a
preliminary ruling from the Simvoulio tis Epikratias, Diag-
nostiko & Therapeftiko Kentro Athinon-Ygeia AE v
Ipourgos Ikonomikon (1)

(Sixth VAT Directive — Article 13A(1)(b) — Exemptions —
Activities closely related to hospital and medical care —
Provision of telephone services and hiring out of televisions
to in-patients — Provision of beds and meals to persons
accompanying in-patients)

(2006/C 36/28)

(Language of the case: Greek)

In Joined Cases C-394/04 and C-395/04: references for a preli-
minary ruling under Article 234 EC from the Simvoulio tis
Epikratias (Greece), made by decisions of 16 June 2004,
received at the Court on 17 September 2004, in the proceed-
ings between Diagnostiko & Therapeftiko Kentro Athinon-
Ygeia AE and Ipourgos Ikonomikon — the Court
(Third
Chamber), composed of A. Rosas, President of the Chamber, J.-
P. Puissochet, S. von Bahr, U. Lõhmus and A. Ó Caoimh
(Rapporteur), Judges; P. Léger, Advocate General; L. Hewlett,
Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, gave a judgment on
1 December 2005, the operative part of which is as follows:

1. The supply of telephone services and the hiring out of televisions to
in-patients by persons covered by Article 13A(1)(b) of Sixth
Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmo-

nisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover
taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of
assessment, and the supply by those persons of beds and meals to
people accompanying in-patients do not amount, as a general
rule, to activities closely related to hospital and medical care within
the meaning of that provision. It can be otherwise only if those
supplies are essential to achieve the therapeutic objectives sought
by the hospital and medical care and their basic purpose is not to
obtain additional income for the supplier by carrying out transac-
tions which are in direct competition with those of commercial
enterprises liable for value added tax.

2. It is for the referring court, taking account of all of the specific
facts in the litigation before it and, if appropriate, of the content
of the medical prescriptions drawn up for the patients concerned,
to determine whether the services supplied satisfy those conditions.

(1) OJ C 273 of 06.11.2004.

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Fourth Chamber)

of 8 December 2005

in Case C-445/04: Possehl Erzkontor GmbH v Hauptzoll-
amt Duisburg (1)

(Common Customs Tariff — Tariff
classification —
Subheading 2519 90 10 — Fused magnesia obtained by
fusion in an electric arc furnace of magnesite that has
previously been caustic-burned — Fused magnesia)

(2006/C 36/29)

(Language of the case: German)

In Case C-445/04: Reference for a preliminary ruling under
Article 234 EC from the Finanzgericht (Finance Court) Düssel-
dorf
(Germany), made by decision of 13 October 2004,
received at the Court on 21 October 2004, in the proceedings
Possehl Erzkontor GmbH v Hauptzollamt Duisburg — the
Court (Fourth Chamber), composed of K. Lenaerts, President of
the Chamber, M. Ilešič (Rapporteur) and E. Levits, Judges; A.
Tizzano, Advocate General; H. von Holstein, Deputy Registrar,
gave a judgment on 8 December 2005, the operative part of
which is as follows: