Joined Cases C-95/07 and C-96/07: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 8 May 2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Commissione tributaria provinciale — Italy) — Ecotrade SpA v Agenzia Entrate Ufficio Genova 3 (Sixth VAT Directive — Reverse charge procedure — Right to deduct — Time-bar — Irregularity in accounts and tax returns affecting transactions subject to the reverse charge procedure)
Date: 2008-05-08
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU law, VAT, basis of tax assessment, interpretation of the law, national law, tax relief

C 158/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

21.6.2008

instituting the proceedings is sufficient

It is for the national court to determine whether the content of the
document
to enable the
defendant to assert his rights or whether it is necessary for the
party instituting the proceedings to remedy the fact that a necessary
annex has not been translated.

2. Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation No 1348/2000 is to be interpreted
as meaning that the fact that the addressee of a document served
has agreed in a contract concluded with the applicant in the course
of his business that correspondence is to be conducted in the
language of the Member State of transmission does not give rise to
is evidence
a presumption of knowledge of
which the court may take into account in determining whether that
addressee understands the language of the Member State of trans-
mission.

language, but

that

3. Article 8(1) of Regulation No 1348/2000 is to be interpreted as
meaning that the addressee of a document served may not in any
event rely on that provision in order to refuse acceptance of annexes
to the document which are not in the language of the Member
State addressed or in a language of the Member State of transmis-
sion which the addressee understands where the addressee concluded
a contract in the course of his business in which he agreed that cor-
respondence was to be conducted in the language of the Member
State of transmission and the annexes concern that correspondence
and are written in the agreed language.

(1) OJ C 56, 10.3.2007.

Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 8 May 2008
— Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom
of Spain

(Case C-39/07) (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directive
89/48/EEC — Recognition of higher-education diplomas
awarded on completion of professional education and training
of at least three years' duration — National legislation not
providing for the recognition of diplomas allowing access to
the profession of hospital pharmacist — Failure to transpose
the directive)

(2008/C 158/08)

Language of the case: Spanish

Defendant: Kingdom of Spain (represented by: M. Muñoz Pérez,
Agent)

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Failure to
transpose Council Directive 89/48/EEC of 21 December 1988
on a general system for the recognition of higher-education
diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and
training of at least three years' duration (OJ 1989 L 19, p. 16),
as far as the profession of hospital pharmacist is concerned

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Declares that, by failing to adopt all the measures necessary to
transpose Council Directive 89/48/EEC of 21 December 1988 on
a general system for the recognition of higher-education diplomas
awarded on completion of professional education and training of at
least three years' duration, as far as the profession of hospital phar-
macist is concerned, the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its
obligations under that directive;

2. Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 82, 14.4.2007.

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 8 May 2008
(reference for a preliminary ruling from the Commissione
tributaria provinciale — Italy) — Ecotrade SpA v Agenzia
Entrate Ufficio Genova 3

(Joined Cases C-95/07 and C-96/07) (1)

(Sixth VAT Directive — Reverse charge procedure — Right to
deduct — Time-bar — Irregularity in accounts and tax
returns affecting transactions subject to the reverse charge
procedure)

(2008/C 158/09)

Language of the case: Italian

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: H. Støvlbæk and R. Vidal Puig, Agents, Agents)

Commissione tributaria provinciale

Referring court

21.6.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 158/7

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Ecotrade SpA

Defendant: Agenzia Entrate Ufficio Genova 3

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Commissione tributaria
provinciale — Interpretation of Articles 17, 18(1)(d), 21(1) and
22 of the Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977
on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating
to turnover taxes — Common system of valued added tax:
uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1) — Right to
deduct upstream VAT — National provision making the exercise
of the right to a deduction dependent on compliance with a
two-year time limit

Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 8 May 2008
v
— Commission

European Communities

the

of
Portuguese Republic

(Case C-233/07) (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Environ-
ment — Directive 91/271/EEC — Urban waste water treat-
ment — Decision 2001/720/EC — Derogation regarding
urban waste water treatment for the agglomeration of the
Estoril coast — Infringement of Articles 2, 3 and 5 of Deci-
sion 2001/720/EC)

(2008/C 158/10)

Language of the case: Portuguese

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: S. Pardo Quintillán and P. Andrade, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Portuguese Republic (represented by: L. Fernandes
and M.J. Lois, Agents)

Operative part of the judgment

Re:

the Member States relating to turnover

1. Articles 17, 18(2) and (3) and 21(1)(b) of Sixth Council Directive
77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws
of
taxes — Common
system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment, as
amended by Council Directive 2000/17/EC of 30 March 2000,
do not preclude national legislation which lays down a limitation
period for the exercise of the right to deduct, such as that at issue
in the main proceedings, provided that the principles of equivalence
and effectiveness are respected. The principle of effectiveness is not
infringed merely because the tax authority has a longer period in
which to recover unpaid value added tax than the period granted to
taxable persons for the exercise of their right to deduct.

2. However, Articles 18(1)(d) and 22 of the Sixth Directive 77/388,
as amended by Directive 2000/17, do preclude a practice whereby
tax returns are reassessed and value added tax recovered which
penalises misapprehension, first, of obligations arising from formal-
ities laid down in national legislation pursuant to Article 18(1)(d),
and, second, of the obligations relating to accounts and tax returns
under Article 22(2) and (4) respectively, such as that in the main
proceedings, by denying the right to deduct in the case of a reverse
charge procedure.

(1) OJ C 117, 26.5.2007.

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Infringement
of Articles 2, 3 and 5 of the Commission Decision of 8 October
2001 granting Portugal a derogation regarding urban waste
water treatment
the Estoril coast
for the agglomeration of
(OJ 2001 L 269, p. 14)

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Declares that the Portuguese Republic has failed to fulfil its obliga-
tions under Articles 2, 3 and 5 of Commission Decision
2001/720/EC granting Portugal a derogation regarding urban
waste water treatment for the agglomeration of the Estoril coast,
by:

— failing to subject, during the bathing season, the urban waste
water from the agglomeration of the Estoril coast, prior to
discharge into the sea, to at least advanced primary treatment
and to a disinfection system in accordance with Article 2 of
that decision,

— failing to subject, outside the bathing season, the urban waste
water from the agglomeration of the Estoril coast, prior to
discharge, to at least primary treatments, in accordance with
Article 3 of that decision, and

— suffering the discharge of urban waste water from the agglom-
eration of the Estoril coast to produce adverse effects on the
environment;