CELEX: C2000/079/27
Language: en
Date: 2000-03-18 00:00:00
Title: Cases C-515/99 and C-519 to C-540/99: References for a preliminary ruling by the Unabhängiger Verwaltungssenat Salzburg by orders of that court of 22 December 1999 in the appeals concerning (1) Hans Reisch and twenty-eight others, (2) Bürgermeister der Landeshauptstadt Salzburg, (3) Grundverkehrsbeauftragter des Landes Salzburg and (4) Grundverkehrslandeskommission des Landes Salzburg

18.3.2000               EN                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                         C 79/15
     Even if the latest scientific position is not yet clear, it is         of the Salzburger Grundverkehrsgesetz (Salzburg Land Transfer
     legally wrong for the Commission to lay down more                      Law) of 1997 in the version published in LGBl. No. 11/1999,
     stringent requirements in respect of measures adopted by               whereby any person who wishes to acquire a building plot in
     Member States than it does in respect of itself. In any                the federal Land of Salzburg must comply with a notification
     event, in a situation of general uncertainty where, even in            or authorisation procedure in respect of the acquisition of that
     the Commission’s view, it is impossible to make any                    plot, with the consequence that one of the fundamental
     definitive statements on the danger, and the harmonising               freedoms of the acquirer of title as guaranteed by the laws of
     directive itself provides for timely re-evaluation, the Mem-           the European Union has been infringed in this case?
     ber States must have discretion as to the continuing need
     for national risk-avoidance measures. That is exactly the
     purpose of the national sovereignty exception in old
     Article 100a(4) and the same must apply to Article 95(5)
     EC.
                                                                            Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Berufungs-
(1) The Commission’s decision of 26.10.1999 on an individual                senat V of the Finanzlandesdirektion for Vienna, Niederö-
    Member State’s conditions for mineral wool communicated by              sterreich and Burgenland, by order of that court of
    Germany in derogation from Directive 97/69/EC adapting to               2 December 1999 in the case of Walter Schmid v Finan-
    technical progress for the 23rd time Council Directive 67/548/EEC           zamt for the 9th, 18th and 19th Districts in Vienna
    on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative
    provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling
                                                                                                     (Case C-516/99)
    of dangerous substances
                                                                                                      (2000/C 79/28)
                                                                            Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
                                                                            European Communities by order of the Berufungssenat V
                                                                            (Appeal Chamber V) of the Finanzlandesdirektion (Regional
                                                                            Finance Appeal Authority) for Vienna, Niederösterreich and
                                                                            Burgenland, of 2 December 1999, which was received at the
                                                                            Court Registry on 30 December 1999, for a preliminary ruling
References for a preliminary ruling by the Unabhängiger                     in the case of Walter Schmid v Finanzamt (Finance Authority)
Verwaltungssenat Salzburg by orders of that court of                        for the 9th, 18th and 19th Districts in Vienna, on the following
22 December 1999 in the appeals concerning (1) Hans                         questions:
Reisch and twenty-eight others, (2) Bürgermeister der
Landeshauptstadt Salzburg, (3) Grundverkehrsbeauftrag-                      1. Do Article 73b(1) in conjunction with Article 73d(1)(a)
ter des Landes Salzburg and (4) Grundverkehrslandes-                             and (b) and (3) of the EC Treaty (now Article 56(1) in
               kommission des Landes Salzburg                                    conjunction with Article 58(1)(a) and (b) and (3) EC)
                                                                                 preclude a provision such as Paragraph 97 of the Einkom-
                                                                                 mensteuergesetz (‘EStG’; Law on Income Tax) of 1988
           (Cases C-515/99 and C-519 to C-540/99)                                (BGBI 1988/400; as amended, BGBI 1996/797), which
                                                                                 provides (pursuant to Paragraph 1(1)(1)(c) of the Endbe-
                            (2000/C 79/27)                                       steuerungsgesetz (Law on Final Taxation), BGBI 1993/11)
                                                                                 that final taxation of dividends, interest and other earnings
                                                                                 from foreign shares is excluded, and thus the rate of
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the                           taxation in respect of domestic shares is 25 %, whereas the
European Communities by orders of the Unabhängiger Verwal-                       rate of taxation in respect of foreign shares may be up to
tungssenat Salzburg of 22 December 1999, received at the                         50 %?
Court Registry on 30 December 1999, for preliminary rulings
in the appeals concerning (1) Hans Reisch and twenty-eight                  2. Do Article 73b(1) in conjunction with Article 73d(1)(a)
others, (2) Bürgermeister der Landeshauptstadt Salzburg, (3)                     and (b) and (3) of the EC Treaty (now Article 56(1) in
Grundverkehrsbeauftragter des Landes Salzburg and (4) Grund-                     conjunction with Article 58(1)(a) and (b) and (3) EC)
verkehrslandeskommission des Landes Salzburg on the follow-                      preclude a provision such as Paragraph 37(1) and (4) of
ing question:                                                                    the EStG of 1988 (BGBI 1988/400), which provides that
                                                                                 dividends of any kind from shareholdings in domestic
                                                                                 limited companies in the form of shares are subject to a
Are the provisions of Article 56 et seq. of the EC Treaty to be                  tax rate reduced to half of the average tax rate applicable
interpreted as precluding                                                        to the aggregate income, but that dividends of any kind
                                                                                 from shareholdings in limited companies whose seat and
— (Cases C-519/99 to C-526/99:) the application of Para-                         place of management are in another EU Member State or
     graphs 12 to 14                                                             a non-Member State are not subject to any reduction of
                                                                                 that kind?
— (Cases C-515/99 and C-527/99 to C-540/99:) the appli-
     cation of Paragraphs 12, 36 and 43