Case C-570/20: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 5 May 2022 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de cassation — France) — Criminal proceedings against BV (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Value added tax (VAT) — Directive 2006/112/EC — Fraudulent concealment of tax due — Penalties — National legislation which provides for an administrative penalty and a criminal penalty for the same acts — Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Article 49 — Article 50 — Principle ne bis in idem — Article 52(1) — Limitations to the principle ne bis in idem — Requirement to provide for clear and precise rules — Possibility of taking into account the interpretation of national legislation by national courts — Need to provide for rules ensuring the proportionality of all of the penalties imposed — Penalties of different kinds)
Date: 2022-05-05
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: VAT, national law, penalty, principle of proportionality, tax offence








C_2022257EN.01000801.xml










4.7.2022   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 257/8






Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 5 May 2022 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de cassation — France) — Criminal proceedings against BV
(Case C-570/20) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Value added tax (VAT) - Directive 2006/112/EC - Fraudulent concealment of tax due - Penalties - National legislation which provides for an administrative penalty and a criminal penalty for the same acts - Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Article 49 - Article 50 - Principle ne bis in idem - Article 52(1) - Limitations to the principle ne bis in idem - Requirement to provide for clear and precise rules - Possibility of taking into account the interpretation of national legislation by national courts - Need to provide for rules ensuring the proportionality of all of the penalties imposed - Penalties of different kinds)
(2022/C 257/10)
Language of the case: French

Referring court

Cour de cassation

Parties to the main proceedings

BV

Intervening party: Direction départementale des finances publiques de la Haute-Savoie

Operative part of the judgment

The fundamental right guaranteed by Article 50 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, read in conjunction with Article 52(1) thereof, must be interpreted as meaning that






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it does not preclude a situation whereby the limitation of the duplication of proceedings and penalties of a criminal nature in the event of fraudulent concealment or omissions from a return relating to value added tax (VAT) provided for by national legislation to the most serious cases is based only on settled case-law interpreting restrictively the legal provisions laying down the conditions for the application of that duplication, provided that it is reasonably foreseeable, at the time when the offence is committed, that that offence is liable to be the subject of a duplication of proceedings and penalties of a criminal nature, but










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it precludes national legislation which does not ensure, in cases of the combination of a financial penalty and a custodial sentence, by means of clear and precise rules, where necessary as interpreted by the national courts, that all of the penalties imposed do not exceed the seriousness of the offence identified.






(1)  OJ C 28, 25.1.2021.