CELEX: C2004/007/02
Language: en
Date: 2004-01-10 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 20 November 2003 in Case C-008/01 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Østre Landsret): Assurandør-Societetet, acting on behalf of Taksatorringen, v Skatteministeriet (Sixth VAT Directive — Article 13A(1)(f) and 13B(a) — Exemption for services performed by independent groups not likely to give rise to distortions of competition — Exemption for insurance transactions and related services performed by insurance brokers and insurance agents — Assessments of damage caused to motor vehicles carried out by an association on behalf of insurance companies which are members of that association)

C 7/2                    EN                             Official Journal of the European Union                                                10.1.2004
3.    Article 3 of Directive 77/187 precludes the transferee from               proceedings pending before that court between Assurandør-
      offering the employees of a transferred entity terms less                 Societetet, acting on behalf of Taksatorringen, and Skatteminis-
      favourable than those offered to them by the transferor in                teriet, on the interpretation of Article 13A(1)(f) and 13B(a) of
      respect of early retirement, and those employees from accepting           Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the
      those terms, where those terms are merely brought into line               harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to
      with the terms offered to the transferee’s other employees at the         turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform
      time of the transfer, unless the more favourable terms previously         basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1), the Court (Fifth
      offered by the transferor arose from a collective agreement which         Chamber), composed of: P. Jann, acting for the President of
      is no longer legally binding on the employees of the entity               the Fifth Chamber, A. La Pergola and S. von Bahr (Rapporteur),
      transferred, having regard to the conditions set out in                   Judges; J. Mischo, Advocate General; H.A. Rühl, Principal
      Article 3(2).                                                             Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on
                                                                                20 November 2003, in which it has ruled:
4.    Where, in breach of the public policy obligations imposed by
      Article 3 of Directive 77/187, the transferee offered employees
      of the entity transferred early retirement less favourable than
      that to which they were entitled under their employment
      relationship with the transferor and those employees accepted             1.    Article 13B(a) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of
      such early retirement, it is for the transferee to ensure that those            17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member
      employees are accorded early retirement on the terms to which                   States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value
      they were entitled under their employment relationship with the                 added tax: uniform basis of assessment must be construed as
      transferor.                                                                     meaning that motor vehicle damage assessments carried out, on
                                                                                      behalf of its members, by an association whose members are
                                                                                      insurance companies are neither insurance transactions nor
(1) OJ C 61 of 24.2.2001.                                                             services related to insurance transactions that are performed by
                                                                                      insurance brokers or insurance agents within the meaning of
                                                                                      that provision.
                                                                                2.    Article 13A(1)(f) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388 must be
                                                                                      construed as meaning that the grant of exemption from value
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                               added tax under that provision to an association such as that
                                                                                      in issue in the main proceedings and which satisfies all of the
                                                                                      other conditions of that provision must be refused if there is a
                           (Fifth Chamber)                                            genuine risk that the exemption may by itself, immediately or
                                                                                      in the future, give rise to distortions of competition.
                       of 20 November 2003
in Case C-008/01 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from                       3.    National legislation which allows a temporary exemption to be
the Østre Landsret): Assurandør-Societetet, acting on                                 granted where doubt exists as to whether that exemption, such
       behalf of Taksatorringen, v Skatteministeriet (1)                              as that in the case in the main proceedings, is liable at a later
                                                                                      date to give rise to distortions of competition is compatible with
(Sixth VAT Directive — Article 13A(1)(f) and 13B(a) —                                 Article 13A(1)(f) of Sixth Directive 77/388, provided that the
Exemption for services performed by independent groups not                            exemption is renewed only for as long as the person concerned
likely to give rise to distortions of competition — Exemption                         satisfies the conditions of that provision.
for insurance transactions and related services performed by
insurance brokers and insurance agents — Assessments of
damage caused to motor vehicles carried out by an association
                                                                                4.    The fact that large insurance companies have the assessments
on behalf of insurance companies which are members of that
                                                                                      of damage to motor vehicles carried out by their own experts,
                              association)
                                                                                      thereby avoiding liability for value added tax in respect of the
                                                                                      provision of such services, is not such as to have any bearing on
                             (2004/C 7/02)                                            the answers to be given to the first three questions.
                    (Language of the case: Danish)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published          (1) OJ C 61 of 24.2.2001.
                    in the European Court Reports)
In Case C-8/01: Reference to the Court under Article 234 EC
by the Østre Landsret (Denmark) for a preliminary ruling in the