Case C-733/23, Beach and bar management: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 3 July 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Аdministrativen sad – Burgas – Bulgaria) – Beach and bar management EOOD v Nachalnik na otdel Operativni deynosti – Burgas (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Common system of value added tax (VAT) – Directive 2006/112/EC – Article 273 – Article 49(3) and Article 50 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Principle ne bis in idem – Duplication of criminal and administrative penalties in respect of the same offence – Financial penalty and sealing of a commercial premises – Provisional enforcement of sealing – Principle of proportionality)
Date: 2025-07-03
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: VAT, administrative offence, administrative sanction, fine, principle of double jeopardy, principle of proportionality, tax offence








C_202504556EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/4556


25.8.2025






Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 3 July 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Аdministrativen sad – Burgas – Bulgaria) – ‘Beach and bar management’ EOOD v Nachalnik na otdel ‘Operativni deynosti’ – Burgas


(Case C-733/23,
                (1)
Beach and bar management)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Common system of value added tax (VAT) - Directive 2006/112/EC - Article 273 - Article 49(3) and Article 50 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Principle ne bis in idem - Duplication of criminal and administrative penalties in respect of the same offence - Financial penalty and sealing of a commercial premises - Provisional enforcement of sealing - Principle of proportionality)
(C/2025/4556)
Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Аdministrativen sad – Burgas

Parties to the main proceedings


Appellant:
            ‘Beach and bar management’ EOOD

Respondent: Nachalnik na otdel ‘Operativni deynosti’ – Burgas

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Article 325 TFEU, Article 273 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax, and Article 50 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which provides for the imposition of a financial penalty on a taxable person on the ground that he or she has not issued fiscal cash register receipts relating to sales made where that offence has already given rise to the imposition of a coercive administrative measure to seal the business premises in which that offence was committed and prohibiting access thereto.










2.


Article 273 of Directive 2006/112 and Article 49(3) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights
must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which provides for, as an administrative penalty, a financial measure of a high amount without the court hearing a challenge to that measure having the procedural possibility of imposing an amount less than that provided for by that legislation or another more lenient type of penalty.






(1)  OJ C, C/2024/1673.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/4556/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)