CELEX: C1996/233/03
Language: en
Date: 1996-08-10 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 6 May 1996 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Case C-152/96)

10 . 8 . 96              EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                  No C 233 / 3
     — the principle that there must be a balance between                 argument put forward by the Luxembourg authorities, the
         the rights and obligations of the parties : in addition          sending of commercial samples free of charge does in fact
         to the concessions embodied in the ATC conditions,               constitute an operation covered by the Sixth Directive , in
         the Community has made a significant number of                   respect of which Article 5 ( 6 ) of that Directive lays down
         additional concessions in exchange for the measures              special arrangements consisting in an exemption
         for opening up the Indian and Pakistani markets                  accompanied by a refund of the input tax paid by the trader
         incorporated in the Memoranda of Understanding.                  concerned . Moreover, the position adopted by Luxembourg
         Furthermore , the measures for opening up those                  is inconsistent, inasmuch as it subjects to VAT imports of
         markets are extremely uncertain and liable to be                 commercial samples provided free of charge whilst enabling
         reversed .                                                       the tax thus paid to be deducted by taxable persons in
                                                                          Luxembourg .
(')  Not yet published in the Official Journal .
(2)  OJ No L 336 , 1994 , p . 50 .
(■') OJ No L 275 , 1993 , p . 1 .                                         (') OJ No L 145 , 13 . 6 . 1977, p . 1 .
(4)  OJ No L 86 , 1995 , p . 10 .
Action brought on 6 May 1996 by the Commission of the
European Communities against the Grand Duchy of                           Action brought on 10 May 1996 by the Portuguese Republic
                             Luxembourg                                                 against the European Commission
                          ( Case C-152/96 )
                                                                                                  ( Case C-159/96 )
                            ( 96/C 233 /03 )
                                                                                                    ( 96/C 233/04 )
An action against the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was
brought before the Court of Justice of the European                       An action against the European Commission was brought
Communities on 6 May 1996 by the Commission of the                        before the Court of Justice on 10 May 1996 by the
European Communities, represented by Hélène Michard                       Portuguese Republic, represented by Dr Luis Fernandes and
and Enrico Traversa , acting as Agents , with an address for              Maria Lui'sa Duarte , acting as Agents, with an address for
service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gômez de la                 service in Luxembourg at the Portuguese Embassy, 33 Allée
Cruz , of the Legal Service, Wagner Centre , Kirchberg .                  Scheffer .
The applicant claims that the Court should :
                                                                          The applicant claims that the Court should :
( a ) declare that, by introducing and applying national rules
      operating in such a way that supplies of samples such as            — declare void the Commission's practice of applying
      specimen discs or books, which are exempt for                           ' exceptional flexibility' measures in connection with the
      domestic       transactions    and     in  the    context   of
                                                                              administration of quantitative limits on the import by
      intra-Community supplies under Articles 5 ( 6 ) and                     the European Community of textile products and
      28c ( B ) ( a ) respectively of the Sixth Council VAT                   clothing from non-member countries and, specifically,
      Directive ( 77/388/EEC ) of 17 May 1977 on the                          the decision adopted by the Commission following the
      harmonization of the laws of the Member States
                                                                              meeting of the Textile Committee of 6 March 1996 on
      relating to turnover taxes — common system of value                     textile products from the People's Republic of China ,
      added tax : uniform basis of assessment ( 1 ), as amended ,
      cannot qualify for deduction of input value added tax,
      and by making imports of those goods subject to VAT,                — order the Commission to pay the costs .
      contrary to the provisions of Article 14 ( 1 ) ( a ) of the
      Sixth VAT Directive , the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
      has failed to fulfil its obligations under the said                 Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
      provisions of the Sixth VAT Directive;
( b ) order the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to pay the                      — Manifest abuse by the Commission of its powers for the
      costs .                                                                 implementation of international agreements on trade in
                                                                              textile products and clothing : the ' exceptional flexiblity'
                                                                              measures, applied after full use has been made of all the
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                           mechanisms provided for in the Community legislation
                                                                              and the bilateral agreements between the European
Infringement of the provisions of the Sixth VAT Directive                     Community and supplier countries for flexible
( 77/388/EEC ) referred to in the claims : contrary to the                    observance of quantitative limits, cannot be regarded as