Case C-292/04: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 6 March 2007 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Finanzgericht Köln — Germany) — Wienand Meilicke, Heidi Christa Weyde, Marina Stöffler v Finanzamt Bonn-Innenstadt (Income tax — Tax credit for dividends paid by resident companies — Articles 56 EC and 58 EC — Limitation of the temporal effects of the judgment)
Date: 2007-04-28
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: corporation tax, interpretation of the law, tax on income, tax relief

C 95/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

28.4.2007

V

(Announcements)

COURT PROCEEDINGS

COURT OF JUSTICE

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 15 March 2007
— British Airways plc v Commission of the European
Communities, Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd

Operative part of the judgment

1. The appeal is dismissed.

(Case C-95/04 P) (1)

2. British Airways plc is ordered to pay the costs.

(Appeals — Abuse of dominant position — Airline — Agree-
ments with travel agents — Bonuses linked to growth in sales
of that airline's tickets over a given period in comparison with
a reference period — Bonuses granted not only for tickets sold
once the sales target achieved, but for all tickets sold during
the period in question)

(1) OJ C 106, 30.4.2004.

(2007/C 95/02)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Appellant: British Airways plc (represented by: R. Subiotto, soli-
citor, R. O'Donoghue, barrister, W. Wood QC)

Other parties to the proceedings: Commission of the European
Communities
(represented by: P. Oliver, A. Nijenhuis and
M. Wilderspin, Agents), Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd (represented
by: J. Scott, solicitor, C. West, barrister, N. Green QC)

Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 6 March 2007
(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Finanzgericht
Köln — Germany) — Wienand Meilicke, Heidi Christa
Weyde, Marina Stöffler v Finanzamt Bonn-Innenstadt

(Case C-292/04) (1)

(Income tax — Tax credit for dividends paid by resident
companies — Articles 56 EC and 58 EC — Limitation of the
temporal effects of the judgment)

(2007/C 95/03)

Language of the case: German

Re:

Referring court

Finanzgericht Köln

Appeal against the judgment of the Court of First Instance (First
Chamber) of 17 December 2003 in Case T-219/99 British
Airways v Commission dismissing as unfounded an application for
annulment of the decision of the Commission of 14 July 1999
relating to a proceeding under Article 82 [EC] (IV/D-2/34.780
— Virgin/British Airways) concerning agreements concluded
between British Airways
establishing
commission schemes and other benefits linked to the increase
in volume of ticket sales of that airline

and travel

agencies

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: Wienand Meilicke, Heidi Christa Weyde, Marina Stöf-
fler

Defendant: Finanzamt Bonn-Innenstadt

28.4.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 95/3

Re:

Parties in the main proceedings

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Finanzgericht Köln —
Interpretation of Articles 56 EC and 58 EC — Income-tax rules
providing for a ‘tax credit’ for dividends distributed by national
companies but not
for dividends distributed by companies
which have their seat in another Member State

Massimiliano Placanica (Case C-338/04), Christian Palazzese
(Case C-359/04), Angelo Sorricchio (Case C-360/04),

Operative part of the judgment

Articles 56 EC and 58 EC are to be interpreted as precluding tax
legislation under which, on a distribution of dividends by a capital
company, a shareholder who is fully taxable in a Member State is
entitled to a tax credit, calculated by reference to the corporation tax
rate on the distributed profits, if the dividend-paying company is estab-
lished in that same Member State but not if
it is established in
another Member State.

(1) OJ C 228, 11.9.2004.

Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 6 March 2007
(references for preliminary ruling from the Tribunale di
Larino, Tribunale di Teramo — Italy) — Criminal proceed-
ings against Massimiliano Placanica (Case C-338/04), Chris-
tian Palazzese (Case C-359/04), Angelo Sorricchio (Case
C-360/04)

(Joined Cases C-338/04, C-359/04 and C-360/04) (1)

(Freedom of establishment — Freedom to provide services —
Interpretation of Articles 43 EC and 49 EC — Games of
chance — Collection of bets on sporting events — Licensing
requirement — Exclusion of certain operators by reason of
their type of corporate form — Requirement of police authori-
sation — Criminal penalties)

(2007/C 95/04)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Tribunale di Larino, Tribunale di Teramo

Re:

Preliminary ruling — Tribunale di Larino — Interpretation of
Article 43 et seq and Article 49 EC and of the judgment of the
Court of
Justice in Case C-243/01 Gambelli and Others —
National law which imposes penalties in relation to the orga-
nising of the taking of bets, and the collecting of bets, on
various events and, in particular, on sporting events — Collec-
tion of bets online by an unlicensed betting operator on behalf
of a company operating with a licence in another Member State

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. National legislation which prohibits the pursuit of the activities of
collecting, taking, booking and forwarding offers of bets, in particu-
lar bets on sporting events, without a licence or a police authorisa-
tion issued by the Member State concerned, constitutes a restriction
on the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services,
provided for in Articles 43 EC and 49 EC respectively.

2. It is for the national courts to determine whether,

in so far as
legislation limits the number of operators active in the
national
betting and gaming sector, it genuinely contributes to the objective
of preventing the exploitation of activities in that sector for criminal
or fraudulent purposes.

3. Articles 43 EC and 49 EC must be interpreted as precluding
national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings,
which excludes — and, moreover, continues to exclude — from the
betting and gaming sector operators in the form of companies
whose shares are quoted on the regulated markets.

4. Articles 43 EC and 49 EC must be interpreted as precluding
national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings,
which imposes a criminal penalty on persons such as the defendants
in the main proceedings for pursuing the organised activity of
collecting bets without a licence or a police authorisation as required
under the national legislation, where those persons were unable to
in
obtain licences or authorisations because that Member State,
breach of Community law, refused to grant licences or authorisa-
tions to such persons.

(1) OJ C 273, 6.11.2004.

OJ C 262, 23.10.2004.