CELEX: C2000/149/09
Language: en
Date: 2000-05-27 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court of 21 March 2000 in Joined Cases C-110/98 to C-147/98 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Económico-Administrativo Regional de Cataluña): Gabalfrisa SL and Others v Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria (AEAT) (Meaning of national court or tribunal for the purposes of Article 177 of the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) — Admissibility — Value added tax — Interpretation of Article 17 of Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC — Deduction of tax paid on inputs — Activities prior to carrying out economic transactions on a regular basis)

C 149/6                  EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                          27.5.2000
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                                       JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                          of 21 March 2000                                                             (First Chamber)
in Joined Cases C-110/98 to C-147/98 (reference for a
preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Económico-Admini-                                              of 21 March 2000
strativo Regional de Cataluña): Gabalfrisa SL and Others
v Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria (AEAT) (1)                  in Case C-217/98 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
                                                                            the Bundesfinanzhof): Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Jonas v
(Meaning of national court or tribunal for the purposes of                                        LFZ Nordfleisch AG (1)
Article 177 of the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) —
Admissibility — Value added tax — Interpretation of Article
                                                                            (Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets —
17 of Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC — Deduction of tax paid
                                                                            Beef and veal — Export refund — Withdrawal of the
on inputs — Activities prior to carrying out economic
                                                                             application for advance payment — Effect on the security)
                  transactions on a regular basis)
                           (2000/C 149/09)                                                             (2000/C 149/10)
                    (Language of the case: Spanish)                                             (Language of the case: German)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                    in the European Court Reports)                          (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                                                                                                in the European Court Reports)
In Joined Cases C-110/98 to C-147/98: references to the Court
under Article 177 of the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) from                In Case C-217/98: Reference to the Court under Article 177 of
the Tribunal Económico-Administrativo Regional de Cataluña                the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) by the Bundesfinanzhof
(Spain) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending                 (Federal Finance Court), Germany, for a preliminary ruling in
before that court between Gabalfrisa SL and Others and                      the proceedings pending before that court between Haupt-
Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria (AEAT) — on                   zollamt Hamburg-Jonas, and LFZ Nordfleisch AG on the
the interpretation of Article 17 of Sixth Council Directive                 interpretation of the second paragraph of Article 33(1) of
77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the                       Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3665/87 of 27 November
laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes —                      1987 laying down common detailed rules for the application
Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assess-                  of the system of export refunds on agricultural products
ment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1) — the Court, composed of:                        (OJ 1987 L 351, p. 1) as amended by Commission Regulation
G.C. Rodrı́guez Iglesias, President, J.C. Moitinho de Almeida               (EEC) No 1615/90 of 15 June 1990 (OJ 1990 L 152, p. 33) in
(Rapporteur), L. Sevón and R. Schintgen (Presidents of Cham-               conjunction with the first paragraph of Article 29 of Regulation
bers), P.J.G. Kapteyn, C. Gulmann, J.-P. Puissochet, G. Hirsch,             (EEC) No 2220/85 of 22 July 1985 laying down common
P. Jann, H. Ragnemalm, and M. Wathelet, Judges; A. Saggio,                  detailed rules for the application of the system of securities for
Advocate General; R. Grass, Registrar, has given a judgment                 agricultural products (OJ 1985 L 205, p. 5) — the Court (First
on 21 March 2000, in which it has ruled:                                    Chamber), composed of: L. Sevón (Rapporteur), President of
                                                                            the Chamber, P. Jann and M. Wathelet, Judges; A. La Pergola,
Article 17 of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977             Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Administrator, for the Registrar,
on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to           has given a judgment on 21 March 2000, in which it has ruled:
turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis
of assessment precludes national legislation which makes the exercise
                                                                            The second paragraph of Article 33(1) of Commission Regulation
of the right to deduct value added tax paid by a taxable person liable
                                                                            (EEC) No 3665/87 of 27 November 1987 laying down common
thereto before he starts regularly carrying out taxable transactions
                                                                            detailed rules for the application of the system of export refunds on
conditional upon the fulfilment of certain requirements such as the
                                                                            agricultural products, as amended by Commission Regulation (EEC)
submission of an express request to that effect before the tax concerned
                                                                            No 1615/90 of 15 June 1990, in conjunction with the first
becomes due and compliance with a time-limit of one year between
                                                                            paragraph of Article 29 of Commission Regulation (EEC)
that submission and the actual commencement of taxable trans-
                                                                            No 2220/85 of 22 July 1985 laying down common detailed rules
actions, and which penalises infringement of those requirements by
                                                                            for the application for the system of securities for agricultural
forfeiture of the right to deduct or deferment of the exercise of that
                                                                            products, is not applicable where an exporter, after submitting to the
right until the time at which taxable transactions actually begin to
                                                                            competent national authorities an application for advance payment
be carried out on a regular basis.
                                                                            of the export refund for goods placed under the customs warehousing
                                                                            scheme, in accordance with Article 29(2) of Regulation
(1) OJ C 209 of 4.7.1998.                                                   No 3665/87, withdraws his application in order to reintroduce those
                                                                            goods into the customs territory of the Community, but nevertheless
                                                                            receives the advance payment of the export refund originally applied
                                                                            for.