CELEX: C1999/121/05
Language: en
Date: 1999-05-01 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 25 February 1999 in Case C-349/96: (reference for a preliminary ruling from the House of Lords): Card Protection Plan Ltd v. Commissioners of Customs and Excise (Sixth VAT Directive - Package of services - Single service - Concept - Exemptions -Insurance transactions - Assistance activities - Supplies of services by insurance Intermediaries - Restriction of the insurance exemption to transactions of authorised insurer)

1.5.1999               EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                               C 121/3
Santiago de Compostela (Spain), for a preliminary ruling in the          a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that
proceedings pending before that court between José Ferreiro              court between Card Protection Plan Ltd and Commissioners of
Alvite v. Instituto Nacional de Empleo and Instituto Nacional            Customs and Excise — on the interpretation of Articles
de la Seguridad Social — on the interpretation of Articles 51            2(1) and 13 B(a) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of
of the EC Treaty and 67 of Council Regulation (EEC)                      17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member
No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971 on the application of social                  States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value
security schemes to employed presons, to self-employed                   added tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ L 145 13.6.1977,
persons and to members of their families moving within the               p.1) — the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: P. J. G.
Community, as amended and updated by Council Regulation                  Kapteyn, President of the Chamber, G. Hirsch (Rapporteur), G.
(EC) No 118/97 (OJ L 28 30.1.1997, p. 1) — the Court (Fifth              F. Mancini, H. Ragnemalm and R. Schintgen, Judges; N.
Chamber), composed of: J. C. Moitinho de Almeida, acting as              Fennely, Advocate-General; H. A. Rühl, Principal Adminis-
President of the Chamber, C. Gulmann, D. A. O. Edward                    trator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 25 February
(Rapporteur), L. Sevón and M. Wathelet, Judges; S. Albert,              1999, in which it has ruled:
Advocate-General; L. Hewlett, Administrator, for the Registrar,
gave a judgment on 25 February 1999, in which it ruled:
The qualifying period which must have been completed in order to be
eligible for an unemployment allowance such as that introduced by        1. Article 13B(a) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of
the Spanish General Law on Social Security, as codified by Royal             17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member
Legislative Decree No 1/94 of 20 June 1994, for unemployed                   States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value
persons of over 52 years of age is determined by the legislation of          added tax: uniform basis of assessment is to be interpreted as
that Member state, provided that contributions paid in whole or in           meaning that a taxable person, not being an insurer, who, in the
part to the social security schemes of one or more other Member              context of a block policy of which he is the holder, procures for
States are also deemed to count towards that period.                         his customers, who are the insured, insurance cover from an
                                                                             insurer who assumes the risk covered, performs an insurance
                                                                             transaction within the meaning of that provision. The term
(1) OJ C 315, 25.11.1995.                                                    ‘insurance’ in that provision extends to the categories of assistance
                                                                             listed in the annex to First Council Directive 73/239/EEC of
                                                                             24 July 1973 on the coordination of laws, regulations and
                                                                             administrative provisions relating to the taking-up and pursuit
                                                                             of the business of direct insurance other than life assurance, as
                                                                             amended by Council Directive 84/641/EEC.
                 JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                                                                         2. It is for the national court to determine, in the light of the above
                                                                             criteria, whether transactions such as those at issue in the main
                         (Sixth Chamber)                                     proceedings are to be regarded for the purposes of value added
                                                                             tax as comprising two independent supplies, namely an exempt
                                                                             insurance supply and a taxable card registration service, or
                      of 25 February 1999                                    whether one of those two supplies is the principal supply to which
                                                                             the other is ancillary, so that it receives the same tax treatment
                                                                             as the principal supply.
in Case C-349/96: (reference for a preliminary ruling
from the House of Lords): Card Protection Plan Ltd v.
           Commissioners of Customs and Excise (1)
(Sixth VAT Directive — Package of services — Single service              3. Article 13B(a) of the Sixth Directive 77/388EEC is to be
— Concept — Exemptions —Insurance transactions —                             interpreted as meaning that a Member State may not restrict the
Assistance activities — Supplies of services by insurance                    scope of the exemption for insurance transactions exclusively to
Intermediaries — Restriction of the insurance exemption to                   supplies by insurers who are authorised by national law to pursue
               transactions of authorised insurer)                           the activity of insurer.
                         (1999/C 121/05)
                                                                         (1) OJ C 370, 7.12.1996.
                   (Language of the case: English)
In Case C-349/96: reference to the Court under Article 177 of
the EC Treaty from the House of Lords (United Kingdom), for