Case C-484/06: Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 10 July 2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden — Netherlands) — Fiscale eenheid Koninklijke Ahold NV v Staatssecretaris van Financiën (Reference for a preliminary ruling — First and Sixth VAT directives — Principles of fiscal neutrality and proportionality — Rules concerning rounding of amounts of VAT — Rounding down per item)
Date: 2008-07-10
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU law - national law, VAT, basis of tax assessment, interpretation of the law, tax system

30.8.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 223/9

Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 10 July 2008
(reference for a preliminary ruling from the Hoge Raad der
Nederlanden — Netherlands) — Fiscale eenheid Koninklijke
Ahold NV v Staatssecretaris van Financiën

2. Community law, as it now stands, entails no specific obligation for
Member States to permit taxable persons to round down per item
the amount of the tax on added value.

(Case C-484/06) (1)

(1) OJ C 20, 27.1.2007.

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — First and Sixth VAT
directives — Principles of fiscal neutrality and proportionality
concerning rounding of amounts of VAT —
— Rules

Rounding down per item)

(2008/C 223/12)

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Hoge Raad der Nederlanden

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Fiscale eenheid Koninklijke Ahold NV

Defendant: Staatssecretaris van Financiën

Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 17 July 2008
— L & D SA v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
Market (Trade Marks and Designs), Julius Sämann Ltd

(Case C-488/06 P) (1)

(Appeal — Community trade mark — Regulation (EC)
No 40/94 — Articles 8(1)(b) and 73 — Figurative mark ‘Aire
Limpio’ — Community, national and international figurative
marks representing a fir tree with various names — Opposi-
tion by the proprietor — Partial refusal to register — Infe-
rence of the particularly distinctive character of the earlier
mark from evidence relating to another mark)

(2008/C 223/13)

Language of the case: Spanish

Re:

Parties

for

Article

Reference
a preliminary ruling — Hoge Raad der
Nederlanden — Interpretation
11A(1)(a),
of
first sentence, and Article 22(5) of Sixth
Article 22(3)(b),
Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmoni-
sation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover
taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of
first and
assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1) and Article 2,
second paragraphs, of First Council Directive 67/227/EEC of
11 April 1967 on the harmonisation of legislation of Member
States concerning turnover taxes (OJ, English Special Edition
1967, p. 14) — Rules on the rounding off of amounts of value
added tax

Appellant: L & D SA (represented by: S. Miralles Miravet,
abogado)

Other parties to the proceedings: Office for Harmonisation in the
Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (represented by: J.
García Murillo, Agent),
Julius Sämann Ltd (represented by:
E. Armijo Chávarri, abogado)

Re:

Operative part of the judgment

1. In the absence of specific Community legislation, it is for Member
States to decide on the rules and methods of rounding amounts of
the tax on added value, but those States must, when making that
decision, observe the principles underpinning the common system of
that tax, in particular the principles of fiscal neutrality and propor-
tionality;

Appeal against the judgment of
the Court of First Instance
(Fourth Chamber) of 7 September 2006 in Case T-168/04 L &
D SA v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade
Marks and Designs) and Julius Sämann Ltd, by which the Court
dismissed an application for partial annulment of the decision
of the Second Board of Appeal of OHIM of 15 March 2004
(Case R 326/2003-2)
in respect of opposition proceedings
between Julius Sämann Ltd and L&D SA