CELEX: C2000/122/02
Language: en
Date: 2000-04-29 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 3 February 2000 in Case C-228/98 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Symvoulio tis Epikrateias): Charalampos Dounias v Ypourgou Oikonomikon (Taxes on imported goods — Taxable value — Articles 30 and 95 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Articles 28 EC and 90 EC) — Regulation (EEC) No 1224/80)

29.4.2000                EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                              C 122/1
                                                                         I
                                                                   (Information)
                                                     COURT OF JUSTICE
                                                               COURT OF JUSTICE
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                      property and, by way of exception, to exempt only lettings of
                                                                             immovable property to be used for dwelling purposes.
                         (Second Chamber)
                                                                             (1) OJ C 72 of 7.3.1998.
                         of 3 February 2000
in Case C-12/98 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
Audiencia Provincial de Palma de Mallorca): Miguel Amen-
                gual Far v Juan Amengual Far (1)
                                                                                              JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
(Sixth VAT Directive — Leasing or letting of immovable
                      property — Exemptions)                                                          (Sixth Chamber)
                           (2000/C 122/01)                                                           of 3 February 2000
                                                                             in Case C-228/98 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
                    (Language of the case: Spanish)                          the Symvoulio tis Epikrateias): Charalampos Dounias v
                                                                                               Ypourgou Oikonomikon (1)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published       (Taxes on imported goods — Taxable value — Articles 30
                    in the European Court Reports)                           and 95 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Articles 28
                                                                                   EC and 90 EC) — Regulation (EEC) No 1224/80)
In Case C-12/98: reference to the Court under Article 177 of
the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) by the Audiencia Provincial                                         (2000/C 122/02)
de Palma de Mallorca, Spain, for a preliminary ruling in
the proceedings pending before that court between Miguel                                         (Language of the case: Greek)
Amengual Far and Juan Amengual Far — on the interpretation
of Article 13B(b) of the Sixth Council Directive (77/388/EEC)
of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the                       (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
Member States relating to turnover taxes Common system of                                       in the European Court Reports)
value added tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145,
p. 1) the Court (Second Chamber) composed of: R. Schintgen,                  In Case C-228/98: reference to the Court under Article 177 of
President of the Chamber, G. Hirsch (Rapporteur) and V. Skou-                the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) from the Symvoulio tis
ris, Judges; A. La Pergola, Advocate General; R. Grass, Registrar,           Epikrateias (Hellenic Republic), for a preliminary ruling in the
has given a judgment on 3 February 2000, on which it ruled:                  proceedings pending before that court between Charalampos
                                                                             Dounias and Ypourgou Oikonomikon — on the interpretation
Article 13B(b) of the Sixth Council Directive (77/388/EEC) of                of Articles 30 and 95 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment,
17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member                   Articles 28 EC and 90 EC) and of Council Regulation (EEC)
States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added             No 1224/80 of 28 May 1980 on the valuation of goods for
tax: uniform basis of assessment allows Member States, by means of           customs purposes (OJ 1980 L 134, p. 1) — the Court (Sixth
a general rule, to subject to value added tax lettings of immovable          Chamber), composed of: R. Schintgen, President of the Second
 ---pagebreak--- C 122/2                 EN                         Official Journal of the European Communities                                          29.4.2000
Chamber, acting as President of the Sixth Chamber, G. Hirsch                                    JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
and H. Ragnemalm (Rapporteur), Judges; F.G. Jacobs, Advocate
General; H. von Holstein, Deputy Registrar, gave a judgment                                            of 10 February 2000
on 11 May 1999, the operative part of which is as follows:
                                                                              in Joined Cases C-147/97 and C-148/97 (reference for a
                                                                              preliminary ruling from the Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt
1. Article 95 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 90
                                                                              am Main): Deutsche Post AG v Gesellschaft für Zahlungs-
    EC) precludes national legislation, such as that in issue in the
                                                                              systeme mbH (GZS) (C-147/97) and Citicorp Kartenser-
    main proceedings, which provides for a method of calculating
                                                                                                    vice GmbH (C-148/97) (1)
    taxable value for the purposes of levying turnover tax, stamp
    duty and a special consumption tax, if that method varies
                                                                              (Public undertaking — Postal service — Non-physical
    according to whether the products on which tax is to be levied are
                                                                                                               remail)
    domestic or imported, the latter being taxed more heavily. The
    reference made in the national legislation to Council Regulation
                                                                                                          (2000/C 122/03)
    (EEC) No 1224/80 of 28 May 1980 on the valuation of goods
    for customs purposes, for the purposes of determining the taxable
    value of goods from other Member States, is not per se contrary                               (Language of the case: German)
    to the EC Treaty.
                                                                              (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
2. Article 95 of the Treaty and Articles 9 and 12 of the EC Treaty                                 in the European Court Reports)
    (now, after amendment, Articles 23 EC and 25 EC) preclude
    national legislation on the application of a tax, such as the             In Joined Cases C-147/97 and C-148/97: reference to the
    compensatory tax in issue in the main proceedings, which                  Court under Article 177 of the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC)
    provides that it is payable on goods from another Member State            by the Oberlandesgericht (Higher Regional Court) Frankfurt am
    but not on equivalent goods produced in the national territory.           Main, Germany, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings
                                                                              pending before that court brought by Deutsche Post AG against
                                                                              Gesellschaft für Zahlungssysteme mbH (GZS) (C-147/97)
3. Regulation No 1224/80 does not apply to trade between the                  and Citicorp Kartenservice GmbH (C-148/97) — on the
    Member States.                                                            interpretation of the second paragraph of Article 5 of the EC
                                                                              Treaty (now the second paragraph of Article 10 EC),
4. Community law precludes national legislation requiring customs             Articles 30 and 59 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment,
    authorities to retain imported goods where the amount of tax              Articles 28 EC and 49 EC) and Articles 85, 86 and 90(1) and
    required is challenged, unless the interested party pays that             (2) of the EC Treaty (now Articles 81 EC, 82 EC and 86(1) and
    amount, if that procedure is less favourable than the procedure           (2) EC) — the Court composed of: G.C. Rodrı́guez Iglesias,
    for similar domestic actions or if, in practice, it renders the           President, J.C. Moitinho de Almeida, L. Sevón, R. Schintgen
    importation of goods by that person from other Member States              (Presidents of Chambers), P.J.G. Kapteyn (Rapporteur), C. Gul-
    virtually impossible or excessively difficult.                            mann, J.P. Puissochet, G. Hirsch, P. Jann, H. Ragnemalm and
                                                                              M. Wathelet, Judges; Advocate General: A. La Pergola;
                                                                              H.A. Rühl, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given
5. The Treaty does not preclude a provision of national law which             judgment on 10 February 2000, in which it has ruled:
    requires disputes concerning the levying of taxes on imported
    goods to be resolved by administrative procedure, which may               In the absence of an agreement between the postal services of the
    affect the importation of goods, provided that there is no                Member States concerned fixing terminal dues in relation to the
    comparable procedure for disputes concerning domestic goods               actual costs of processing and delivering incoming trans-border mail,
    which is more favourable and that where the administrative                it is not contrary to Article 90 of the EC Treaty (now Article 86 EC),
    authorities refuse or restrict the importation of goods, a judicial       read in conjunction with Article 86 of the EC Treaty (now Article 82
    remedy lies against their decision.                                       EC) and Article 59 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment,
                                                                              Article 49 EC), for a body such as Deutsche Post AG to exercise the
6. Community law does not preclude a provision of national law                right provided for by Article 25(3) of the Universal Postal Conven-
    pursuant to which, in judicial proceedings where it is sought to          tion, in the version adopted on 14 December 1989, to charge, in the
    establish State liability for damage resulting from a breach of           cases referred to in the second sentence of Article 25(1) and
    Community law in order to obtain compensation, the calling of             Article 25(2) thereof, internal postage on items of mail posted in
    witnesses is possible only in exceptional cases, provided that it         large quantities with the postal services of a Member State other than
    applies also to similar domestic actions and does not prevent             the Member State to which that body belongs. On the other hand,
    individuals from exercising rights conferred by direct effect of          the exercise of such a right is contrary to Article 90(1) of the Treaty,
    Community law.                                                            read in conjunction with Article 86 thereof, in so far as the result is
                                                                              that such a body may demand the entire internal postage applicable
                                                                              in the Member State to which it belongs without deducting the
                                                                              terminal dues corresponding to those items of mail paid by the
(1) OJ C 278 of 5.9.1998.                                                     abovementioned postal services.
                                                                              (1) OJ C 181 of 14.6.1997.