Case C-293/06: Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 28 February 2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Finanzgericht Hamburg, Germany) — Deutsche Shell GmbH v Finanzamt für Großunternehmen in Hamburg (Freedom of establishment — Taxation of companies — Monetary effects upon the repatriation of start-up capital granted by a company established in one Member State to its permanent establishment in another Member State)
Date: 2008-02-28
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: basis of tax assessment, interpretation of the law, repatriation of capital, tax exemption, tax system

C 107/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

26.4.2008

tariffs, applied to business customers who themselves transport
pre-sorted postal
items to the sorting offices of dispatch, to
professional suppliers of postal services who collect the postal
items from the senders and then, like the business customers,
pre-sort and deliver them to a sorting office of dispatch

to a permanent establishment set up in another Member State
— Not possible to take that loss into account for purposes of
taxation in the Member State in which the company is estab-
lished

Operative part of the judgment

Operative part of the judgment

The fifth indent of Article 12 of Directive 97/67/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 on common
rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal
services and the improvement of quality of service, as amended by
Directive 2002/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 10 June 2002, must be interpreted as precluding refusal to apply to
businesses which consolidate, on a commercial basis and in their own
name, postal items from various senders the special tariffs which the
national universal postal service provider grants, within the scope of its
exclusive licence, to business customers for the deposit of minimum
quantities of pre-sorted mail at its sorting offices.

(1) OJ C 261, 28.10.2006.

1) It is contrary to Article 52 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment
Article 43 EC) in conjunction with Article 58 of the EC Treaty
(now Article 48 EC) for a Member State, when determining the
national basis of assessment, to exclude a currency loss suffered by
a company with a registered office in that State upon the repatria-
tion of start-up capital granted to its permanent establishment in
another Member State.

2) It is also contrary to Article 52 of the EC Treaty (now, after
amendment, Article 43 EC) in conjunction with Article 58 of the
EC Treaty (now Article 48 EC) for a Member State to allow a
currency loss to be deducted as operating expenditure in respect of
an undertaking with a registered office in a Member State only in
so far as its permanent establishment in another Member State
does not make any tax-free profits.

(1) OJ C 237, 30.9.2006.

Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 28 February
a preliminary ruling from the
2008 (reference
Finanzgericht Hamburg, Germany) — Deutsche Shell
GmbH v Finanzamt für Großunternehmen in Hamburg

for

(Case C-293/06) (1)

(Freedom of establishment — Taxation of companies —
Monetary effects upon the repatriation of start-up capital
granted by a company established in one Member State to its
permanent establishment in another Member State)

(2008/C 107/05)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Finanzgericht Hamburg

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Deutsche Shell GmbH

Defendant: Finanzamt für Großunternehmen in Hamburg

Re:

Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 11 March 2008
(reference for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungs-
gericht Schwerin (Germany)) — Rüdiger Jager v Amt für
Landwirtschaft Bützow

(Case C-420/06) (1)

agricultural

policy — Regulations

(Common
(EC)
No 1254/1999 and (EC) No 1782/2003 — Beef and veal —
Integrated administration and control system for certain Com-
munity aid schemes — Regulations (EEC) No 3887/92, (EC)
No 2419/2001 and (EC) No 796/2004 — Applications for
‘livestock’ aid — Suckler cow premium — Irregularities —
Non-compliance with the provisions concerning the identifica-
tion and registration of unclaimed bovine animals — Regu-
lation (EC) No 1760/2000 — Exclusion from the benefit of
aid — Article 2(2) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95
— Principle of retroactive application of the more lenient
penalty)

(2008/C 107/06)

Language of the case: German

Preliminary ruling — Finanzgericht Hamburg — Interpretation
of Articles 43 EC and 48 EC — Currency exchange loss
incurred by a company established in one Member State at the
time of repatriation of the start-up capital which it had granted

Referring court

Verwaltungsgericht Schwerin