CELEX: 62010CJ0263
Language: en
Date: 2011-07-07
Title: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 7 July 2011.#Iulian Nisipeanu v Direcţia Generală a Finanţelor Publice Gorj and Others.#Reference for a preliminary ruling: Tribunalul Gorj - Romania.#Internal taxation - Article 110 TFEU - Pollution tax levied on first registration of motor vehicles.#Case C-263/10.

Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 7 July 2011 – Nisipeanu v Direcţia Generală a Finanţelor Publice Gorj and Others
      (Case C‑263/10)
      Internal taxation – Article 110 TFEU – Pollution tax levied on first registration of motor vehicles
      1.                     Tax provisions – Internal taxation – Pollution tax imposed on motor vehicles on their first registration in national territory
            – Tax applicable to imported second-hand vehicles but without any equivalent for vehicles of the same age and the same condition
            present on the national market – Not permissible (Art. 110 TFEU) (see paras 28-29, operative part)
      2.                     Questions referred for a preliminary ruling – Interpretation – Temporal effects of judgments by way of interpretation – Retroactive
            effect – Limitation by the Court – Conditions – Importance for the Member State concerned of the financial consequences of
            the judgment – Criterion not conclusive (Art. 110 TFEU) (see paras 32-36)
      Re: 
      
         
               Reference for a preliminary ruling – Tribunalul Gorj – Registration of second-hand vehicles previously registered in other
                  Member States – Environmental tax on motor vehicles upon first registration in a Member State – Classification of the criterion
                  of ‘date of first registration’ – Whether the national legislation is compatible with Article 110 TFEU – Whether exemption
                  from payment of the tax, introduced for certain categories of vehicle, is lawful – Possible application of the ‘polluter pays’
                  principle.
               
            Operative part
      Article 110 TFEU must be interpreted as precluding a Member State from introducing a pollution tax levied on motor vehicles
         on their first registration in that Member State, if that tax is arranged in such a way as to discourage the putting into
         circulation in that Member State of second-hand vehicles purchased in other Member States but without discouraging the purchase
         of second-hand vehicles of the same age and condition on the domestic market.