Case C-345/04: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 15 February 2007 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesfinanzhof (Germany) — Centro Equestre da Lezíria Grande Lda v Bundesamt für Finanzen (Freedom to provide services — Tax legislation — Corporation tax — Equestrian presentations and lessons organised in a Member State by a company established in another Member State — Deduction of operating expenses — Conditions — Direct economic connection to income received in the State in which the activity is pursued)
Date: 2007-04-14
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: corporation tax, equidae, freedom to provide services, interpretation of the law, tax law, tax on profits of self-employment, tax rebate

14.4.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 82/3

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Declares that, by introducing and maintaining in force a system for
life assurance and pensions under which tax deductions and tax
exemptions for payments are granted only for payments under
contracts entered into with pension institutions established in
Denmark, whereas no such tax relief is granted for payments made
under contracts entered into with pension institutions established in
other Member States, the Kingdom of Denmark has failed to fulfil
its obligations under Articles 39 EC, 43 EC and 49 EC;

(OJ 1997 L 73, p. 5) — Consents granted without an assess-
ment

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Dismisses the action as inadmissible;

2. Orders the Commission of the European Communities to pay the

costs.

2. Orders the Kingdom of Denmark to pay the costs;

3. Orders the Kingdom of Sweden to bear its own costs.

(1) OJ C 179, 10.7.2004.

(1) OJ C 190, 24.7.2004.

Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 1 February
the European Communities v
2007 — Commission of

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

(Case C-199/04) (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directives
85/337/EEC and 97/11/EC — Assessment of the effects of
certain projects on the environment — Material change in the
use of any buildings or other land — Action inadmissible)

(2007/C 82/04)

Language of the case: English

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 15 February
2007 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesfi-
nanzhof (Germany) — Centro Equestre da Lezíria Grande
Lda v Bundesamt für Finanzen

(Case C-345/04) (1)

(Freedom to provide services — Tax legislation — Corporation
tax — Equestrian presentations and lessons organised in a
Member State by a company established in another Member
State — Deduction of operating expenses — Conditions —
Direct economic connection to income received in the State in
which the activity is pursued)

(2007/C 82/05)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Referring court

Bundesfinanzhof (Germany)

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: C.-F. Durand and F. Simonetti, acting as Agents, and
A. Howard, Barrister)

Defendant: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland (represented by: M. Bethell and E. O'Neill, acting as
Agents, D. Elvin QC and J. Maurici, Barrister)

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Centro Equestre da Lezíria Grande Lda

Defendant: Bundesamt für Finanzen

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Articles 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 of Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June
1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and
private projects on the environment (OJ 1985 L 175, p. 40), as
amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Bundesfinanzhof —
Whether national legislation relating to income tax payable by
non-residents which provides that tax is to be repaid where
operating expenses which have a direct economic connection to
income are higher than half of the income is compatible with
Article 59 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 49
EC)

C 82/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

14.4.2007

Operative part of the judgment

Re:

Article 59 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 49 EC)
does not preclude national legislation such as that at issue in the main
proceedings in so far as that legislation makes repayment of corpora-
tion tax deducted at source on the income of a taxpayer with restricted
tax liability subject to the condition that the operating expenses in
respect of which a deduction is claimed for that purpose by that
taxpayer have a direct economic connection to the income received from
activities pursued in the Member State concerned, on condition that all
the costs that are inextricably linked to that activity are considered to
have such a direct connection,
irrespective of the place and time at
which those costs were incurred. By contrast, that article precludes such
national legislation in so far as it makes repayment of that tax to that
taxpayer subject to the condition that those same operating expenses
exceed half of that income.

(1) OJ C 273, 6.11.2004.

Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 15 February
2007 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Hof van
(Belgium) — BVBA Management,
beroep te Brussel

Training en Consultancy v Benelux-Merkenbureau

First Council Directive 89/104/EEC of 21 December 1988 to
approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks
must be interpreted as meaning that:

— when refusing registration of a trade mark, the competent authority
is required to state in its decision its conclusion for each of the
individual goods and services specified in the application for regis-
tration, regardless of the manner in which that application was
formulated. However, where the same ground of refusal is given for
a category or group of goods or services, the competent authority
may use only general reasoning for all of the goods or services
concerned;

— it does not preclude national legislation which prevents the court
reviewing the decision of the competent authority from ruling on
the distinctive character of the mark separately for each of the indi-
vidual goods and services specified in the trade mark application,
where neither that decision nor that application related to cate-
gories of goods or services or goods or services considered sepa-
rately;

— it does not preclude national legislation which prevents the court
reviewing a decision of
the competent authority from taking
account of facts and circumstances which arose after that decision
had been taken.

(Case C-239/05) (1)

(1) OJ C 217, 3.9.2005.

(Trade marks — Directive 89/104/EEC — Application for
registration of a trade mark for a range of goods and services
— Examination of the sign by the competent authority —
Taking account of all the relevant facts and circumstances —
Jurisdiction of the national court seised of an action)

(2007/C 82/06)

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Hof van beroep te Brussel (Belgium)

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: BVBA Management, Training en Consultancy

Defendant: Benelux-Merkenbureau

Objet

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Hof van beroep te Brussel
— Interpretation of Article 3 of First Council Directive 89/104
EEC of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of Member
States relating to trade marks (OJ 1989 L 40, p. 1) — Applica-
tion for registration of the trade mark ‘The Kitchen Company’
— Examination of
the sign by the competent authority —
Taking account of all the relevant facts and circumstances —
Judgment in Koninklijke KPN Nederland

Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 1 February 2007
— Jose Maria Sison v Council of the European Union

(Case C-266/05 P) (1)

(Appeal — Access to documents of the institutions — Regu-
lation (EC) No 1049/2001 — Exceptions — Public interest —
Public security — International relations — Documents which
have served as the basis for a Council decision establishing
restrictive measures directed against certain persons with a
view to combating terrorism — Sensitive documents —
Refusal of access — Refusal to disclose the identity of the
States from which some of those documents emanate)

(2007/C 82/07)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Appellant: Jose Maria Sison (represented by: J. Fermon, avocat)

Other party to the proceedings: Council of the European Union
(represented by: M. Bauer and E. Finnegan, Agents)