CELEX: C2002/017/10
Language: en
Date: 2002-01-19 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 22 November 2001 in Case C-184/00 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal de premiere instance de Charleroi): Office des produits wallons ASBL v Belgian State (Sixth VAT Directive — Article 11A(1)(a) — Taxable amount — Subsidies directly linked to the price)

19.1.2002                EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                                 C 17/7
Article 87 EC) — the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of:                   (Belgium), for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending
F. Macken, President of the Chamber, N. Colneric, C. Gulmann               before that court between Office des produits wallons ASBL
(Rapporteur), J.-P. Puissochet and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, Judges;           and Belgian State — on the interpretation of Article 11A(1)(a)
A. Tizzano, Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Administrator, for               of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on
the Registrar, has given a judgment on 22 November 2001, in                the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating
which it has ruled:                                                        to turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax:
                                                                           uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1) — the
1.    Article 92 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 87        Court (Third Chamber), composed of: C. Gulmann (Rappor-
      EC) is to be interpreted as meaning that, because it is charged      teur), acting for the President of the Chamber, J.-P. Puissochet
      only on direct sales of medicines by pharmaceutical laboratories,    and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, Judges; L.A. Geelhoed, Advocate
      a measure such as the tax introduced by Article 12 of Law            General; D. Louterman-Hubeau, Head of Division, for the
      No 97-1164 of 19 December 1997 on social security funding            Registrar, has given a judgment on 22 November 2001, in
      for 1998 amounts to State aid to wholesale distributors only         which it has ruled:
      to the extent that the advantage in not being assessed to the tax
      on direct sales of medicines exceeds the additional costs that       For the purposes of Article 11A(1)(a) of Sixth Council Directive
      they bear in discharging the public service obligations imposed      77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of
      on them by national law.                                             the Member States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of
                                                                           value added tax: uniform basis of assessment ‘subsidies directly linked
2.    Article 90(2) of the EC Treaty (now Article 86(2) EC) is to be       to the price’ must be interpreted as covering only subsidies which
      interpreted as meaning that it does not cover a tax advantage        constitute the whole or part of the consideration for a supply of goods
      enjoyed by undertakings entrusted with the operation of a public     or services and which are paid by a third party to the seller or supplier.
      service such as those concerned in the main proceedings in so        It is for the national court to determine, on the basis of the facts
      far as that advantage exceeds the additional costs of performing     before it, whether or not the subsidy constitutes such consideration.
      the public service.
3.    Article 59 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 49
                                                                           (1) OJ C 192 of 8.7.2000.
      EC) must be interpreted as meaning that it does not apply to a
      situation such as that at issue in the main proceedings, where
      there is no connection with the provision of services.
(1) OJ C 122 of 29.4.2000.
                                                                                                ORDER OF THE COURT
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                                              (Third Chamber)
                          (Third Chamber)                                                        of 13 September 2001
                       of 22 November 2001
                                                                           in Case C-467/00 P: Staff Committee of the European
                                                                              Central Bank and Others v European Central Bank (1)
in Case C-184/00 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
the Tribunal de premiere instance de Charleroi): Office
        des produits wallons ASBL v Belgian State (1)                      (Appeal — Application for annulment of an administrative
                                                                           circular concerning Internet usage within the European
(Sixth VAT Directive — Article 11A(1)(a) — Taxable                         Central Bank — Application for directions to be issued to
        amount — Subsidies directly linked to the price)                   the European Central Bank — Inadmissibility — Appeal in
                                                                              part clearly inadmissible and in part clearly unfounded)
                            (2002/C 17/10)
                                                                                                      (2002/C 17/11)
                     (Language of the case: French)
                                                                                               (Language of the case: English)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                    in the European Court Reports)
                                                                           In Case C-467/00 P: Staff Committee of the European Central
In Case C-184/00: reference to the Court under Article 234                 Bank, established in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Johannes
EC from the Tribunal de première instance de Charleroi                     Priesemann, member of staff of the European Central Bank,