Case C-178/05: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 7 June 2007 — Commission of the European Communities v Hellenic Republic (Failure of a Member to fulfil obligations — Directive 69/335/EEC — Indirect taxes on the raising of capital — Capital duty — Exhaustive harmonisation — National legislation providing for taxation of any transfer of the effective centre of management or registered office, in so far as the company concerned is not subject to capital duty in the Member State of origin — National legislation under which agricultural cooperative organisations, and associations or consortia thereof of any kind, are exempted from the tax — National legislation under which co-ownership of vessels, shipping consortia and any form of shipping company are exempted from the tax — Prevention of tax avoidance — Abuse of rights — Limitation of the temporal effects of a judgment)
Date: 2007-07-21
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, Greece, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, agricultural cooperative, capital movement, head office, indirect tax, maritime transport, share capital, tax exemption

21.7.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 170/3

Parties to the main proceedings

Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 7 June 2007 —
the European Communities v Hellenic
Commission of

Applicants: Klas Rosengren, Bengt Morelli, Hans Särman, Mats
Åkerström, Åke Kempe, Anders Kempe, Mats Kempe, Björn
Rosengren, Martin Lindberg, Jon Pierre, Tony Staf

Defendant: Riksåklagaren

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Högsta Domstolen —
Interpretation of Articles 28, 30 and 31 EC in the light of
national provisions regarding a national retail monopoly for
retail sales of alcoholic beverages which exclude the direct
import of such beverages by individuals

Republic

(Case C-178/05) (1)

(Failure of a Member
to fulfil obligations — Directive
69/335/EEC — Indirect taxes on the raising of capital —
Capital duty — Exhaustive harmonisation — National legisla-
tion providing for taxation of any transfer of the effective
centre of management or registered office, in so far as the
company concerned is not subject
to capital duty in the
Member State of origin — National legislation under which
agricultural cooperative organisations, and associations or
consortia thereof of any kind, are exempted from the tax —
National
legislation under which co-ownership of vessels,
shipping consortia and any form of shipping company are
exempted from the tax — Prevention of tax avoidance —
Abuse of rights — Limitation of the temporal effects of a
judgment)

(2007/C 170/04)

Language of the case: Greek

Operative part of the judgment

Parties

1. A national provision, such as that in the first subparagraph of
Paragraph 2 of Chapter 4 of the Law on alcohol (alkohollagen) of
16 December 1994, under which private individuals are prohibited
from importing alcoholic beverages must be assessed in the light of
Article 28 EC and not in the light of Article 31 EC.

2. A measure, such as that in the first subparagraph of Paragraph 2
of Chapter 4 of the Law on alcohol, under which private indivi-
duals are prohibited from importing alcoholic beverages amounts to
a quantitative
restriction on imports within the meaning of
Article 28 EC, even though that law requires the holder of the
retail sale monopoly, on request, to supply and therefore, if neces-
sary, to import the beverages in question.

3. A measure, such as that in the first subparagraph of Paragraph 2
of Chapter 4 of the Law on alcohol, under which private indivi-
duals are prohibited from importing alcoholic beverages,

— as it is unsuitable for attaining the objective of limiting alcohol

consumption generally, and

— as

it

is not proportionate

for attaining the objective of
protecting young persons against the harmful effects of such
consumption,

cannot be regarded as being justified under Article 30 EC on
grounds of protection of the health and life of humans.

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: D. Triantafyllou, acting as Agent)

Defendant: Hellenic Republic (represented by: S. Khala and
M. Tassopoulou, acting as Agents)

Intervener in support of the defendant: Kingdom of Spain (repre-
sented by: N. Diaz Abad, acting as Agent)

Re:

taxes on the raising of capital

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Breach of
Council Directive 69/335/EEC of 17 July 1969 concerning
(OJ, English Special
indirect
Edition 1969 (II), p. 412) — Transfer of a company's effective
centre of management or registered office — Exemption from
capital duty for agricultural cooperatives and shipping compa-
nies

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Declares that, as a result of its legislation relating to the charging
of capital duty in the event of transfer of the registered office or the
effective centre of management of a company and to the exemption
from that duty of co-ownership of vessels, shipping consortia and
any form of shipping company, the Hellenic Republic has failed to
fulfil
its obligations under Council Directive 69/335/EEC of
17 July 1969 concerning indirect taxes on the raising of capital,
as amended by Council Directive 85/303/EEC of 10 June 1985;

2. Dismisses the action as to the remainder;

3. Orders the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 156, 12.6.2004.

(1) OJ C 155, 25.6.2005.