CELEX: C1999/333/41
Language: en
Date: 1999-11-20 00:00:00
Title: Case C-346/99: Action brought on 17 September 1999 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

20.11.1999              EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                         C 333/19
Action brought on 17 September 1999 by the Com-                           Action brought on 17 September 1999 by the Com-
mission of the European Communities against the French                    mission of the European Communities against the Grand
                              Republic                                                          Duchy of Luxembourg
                          (Case C-345/99)                                                           (Case C-346/99)
                                                                                                    (1999/C 333/41)
                          (1999/C 333/40)
                                                                          An action against the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was
An action against the French Republic was brought before the              brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communi-
Court of Justice on 17 September 1999 by the Commission of                ties on 17 September 1999 by the Commission of the
the European Communities, represented by Enrico Traversa,                 European Communities, represented by Richard B. Wain-
Legal Adviser, and Hélène Michard, of its Legal Service, acting           wright, Principal Legal Adviser, and Olivier Couvert-Castéra, a
as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the               national civil servant on secondment to its Legal Service, acting
office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.             as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the
                                                                          office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.
The Commission of the European Communities claims that
the Court should:                                                         The Commission of the European Communities claims that
                                                                          the Court should:
— declare that, by applying to vehicles used by taxable                   — declare that, by failing to adopt the laws, regulations and
     persons carrying on the activity of driving instructors the              administrative measures necessary in order to comply
     condition that, in order for such persons to be able to                  with Commission Directive 96/65/EC of 11 October 1996
     exercise their right to deduct the VAT charged on their                  adapting to technical progress for the fourth time Council
     initial acquisition of those vehicles, the vehicles in question          Directive 88/379/EEC on the approximation of the laws,
     must be used exclusively for that activity, the French                   regulations and administrative provisions of the Member
     Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under                      States relating to the classification, packaging and labelling
     Article 17(2) of the Sixth Council Directive of 17 May                   of dangerous preparations and modifying Directi-
     1977 (1);                                                                ve 91/442/EEC on dangerous preparations the packaging
                                                                              of which must be fitted with child-resistant fastenings (1),
— order the French Republic to pay the costs.                                 or by failing in any event to inform the Commission of the
                                                                              measures adopted, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has
                                                                              failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive;
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                          — order the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to pay the costs.
Article 17(6) of the Sixth Directive authorises Member States
to retain all the exclusions relating to the deductibility of tax         Pleas in law and main arguments
provided for under their national laws on the date of entry
into force of that directive. On the date in question, the French         On the expiry of the time-limit for transposition, namely
legislation excluded from deduction all private vehicles, with            31 May 1998, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg had not yet
the sole exception of vehicles used for public passenger                  implemented the provisions necessary to comply with the
transport.                                                                directive.
With effect from 1 January 1993, the French legislation                   (1) OJ L 265 of 18.10.1996, p. 15.
introduced a right of deduction in respect of vehicles used for
driving instruction purposes. However, that right is restricted
to vehicles used exclusively for that activity.
According to Article 17(2) of the directive, the right to deduct
must arise where the goods concerned are used by the taxable
person for the purposes of his taxable transactions; that right           Action brought on 20 September 1999 by the Com-
cannot be restricted to goods used exclusively for the activity              mission of the European Communities against Ireland
in question.
                                                                                                    (Case C-347/99)
A Member State may not establish its own criteria for
application of the deduction by limiting the scope of a national                                    (1999/C 333/42)
exclusion of the right to deduct.
                                                                          An action against Ireland was brought before the Court of
                                                                          Justice of the European Communities on 20 September 1999
(1) Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17.5.1977 (OJ L 145 of                by the Commission of the European Communities, represented
    13.6.1977, p. 1.)                                                     by Marie Wolfcarius, Legal Adviser, acting as agent, with an
                                                                          address for service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos
                                                                          Gómez de la Cruz, also of the Legal Service of the Commission,
                                                                          Wagner Centre, Kirchberg, Luxembourg.