Case C-358/24, Varo Energy Belgium and Others: Request for a preliminary ruling from the Grondwettelijk Hof (Belgium) lodged on 16 May 2024 – Varo Energy Belgium NV, EG Retail (Belgium) BV, Gilops Group NV, Van Raak Trading NV, Kuwait Petroleum (Belgium) NV v Ministerraad (Eerste Minister)
Date: 2024-05-16
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU energy policy, State aid, coal, control of State aid, energy crisis, natural gas, oil industry, petroleum, price of energy, principle of legal certainty, retroactivity of a law








C_202405076EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/5076


26.8.2024






Request for a preliminary ruling from the Grondwettelijk Hof (Belgium) lodged on 16 May 2024 – Varo Energy Belgium NV, EG Retail (Belgium) BV, Gilops Group NV, Van Raak Trading NV, Kuwait Petroleum (Belgium) NV v Ministerraad (Eerste Minister)


(Case C-358/24, Varo Energy Belgium and Others)

(C/2024/5076)
Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Grondwettelijk Hof

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicants: Varo Energy Belgium NV, EG Retail (Belgium) BV, Gilops Group NV, Van Raak Trading NV, Kuwait Petroleum (Belgium) NV

Defendant: Ministerraad (Eerste Minister)

Questions referred







1.


Are the provisions of Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1854 (1) of 6 October 2022 on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices which relate to the temporary solidarity contribution valid to the extent that those provisions were adopted under Article 122(1) [TFEU]?










2.


If the first question is answered in the affirmative, should Article 14 of the aforementioned Regulation (EU) 2022/1854 be interpreted as meaning that a contribution such as that introduced by the Law of 16 December 2022 establishing a temporary solidarity contribution by the oil sector constitutes an ‘equivalent national measure’?










3.


If the first and second questions are answered in the affirmative, does Article 14 of the aforementioned Regulation (EU) 2022/1854, under the interpretation given in the second question, violate Articles 20 and 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in so far as it permits the adoption of a national measure which is applicable both to registered oil companies operating in the crude oil and refining sectors and to registered oil companies operating in the distribution sector, and in so far as it permits the adoption of a national measure which is applicable to registered petroleum companies that were designated in 2022 as primary participants for diesel, gas oil and petrol products, when that measure does not apply to registered petroleum companies that were not designated in 2022 as primary participants for diesel, gas oil and petrol products, to the primary participants for other product categories, such as lamp oil and paraffin, or to companies operating in the coal and natural gas sectors?










4.


Should Article 30 [TFEU] be interpreted as meaning that a measure such as that contained in the aforementioned Law of 16 December 2022 at the expense of registered oil companies that were designated in 2022 as primary participants for diesel, gas oil and petrol products constitutes a prohibited charge having equivalent effect to a customs duty?










5.


Should Article 110 [TFEU] be interpreted as meaning that a measure such as that contained in the aforementioned Law of 16 December 2022 at the expense of registered oil companies that were designated in 2022 as primary participants for diesel, gas oil and petrol products constitutes a discriminatory domestic tax?










6.


Should Articles 107(1) and 108(3) [TFEU] be interpreted as meaning that a measure such as that contained in the aforementioned Law of 16 December 2022 constitutes new State aid that had to be notified to the European Commission?










7.


If the first and second questions are answered in the affirmative, does Article 14 of Regulation (EU) 2022/1854, under the interpretation given in the second question, violate Articles 15, 16 and 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and Articles 49 and 56 [TFEU], in so far as it allows the amount of the temporary solidarity contribution, as introduced by the aforementioned Law of 16 December 2022 for registered oil companies that were designated in 2022 as primary participants for diesel, gas oil and petrol products, to be set at EUR 7.8 per cubic metre of products released for consumption between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2023, without providing for an adjustment mechanism that permits the reimbursement of the excess contributions paid in relation to the amount calculated in accordance with Regulation 2022/1854?










8.


If the first and second questions are answered in the affirmative, do Article 14 of Regulation (EU) 2022/1854, under the interpretation mentioned in the second question, and Article 15 of the same regulation, violate the general principles of legal certainty and of the non-retroactivity of laws by allowing the amount of the temporary solidarity contribution as introduced by the aforementioned Law of 16 December 2022, for registered oil companies that were designated in 2022 as primary participants for diesel, gas oil and petrol products, to be calculated on products released for consumption between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2023, when that regulation and that law did not enter into force until 8 October 2022 and 22 December 2022 respectively?










9.


Could the Grondwettelijk Hof (Constitutional Court, Belgium), if it were to come to the conclusion, on the basis of the answers to the abovementioned questions, that the aforementioned Law of 16 December 2022, which transposes Regulation (EU) 2022/1854, violates one or more of the obligations arising from the provisions referred to in those questions, definitively maintain the effects of the aforementioned Law of 16 December 2022 in order to avoid the budgetary difficulties to which unmodulated annulment would give rise and in order to ensure that the objective of the solidarity contribution provided for in Regulation (EU) 2022/1854 can be achieved?






(1)  
            OJ 2022 L 261I, p. 1.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/5076/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)