CELEX: C1998/299/21
Language: en
Date: 1998-09-26 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 16 July 1998 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Hellenic Republic (Case C-260/98)

C 299/12                EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                   26.9.98
      placement of employees as not being contrary to                 payment of tolls by the user constitutes a supply of
      criminal law, with the result that the relevant                 services which must be subjected to value added tax. The
      penalising provisions of national law must be                   fact that that activity is carried out by public bodies does
      disapplied.                                                     not mean that it does not fall within the scope of VAT,
                                                                      since it constitutes an economic activity for the purposes
                                                                      of Article 2 of the sixth VAT Directive and is carried out
(b) Whether Articles 86 and 90 are to be interpreted as               by taxable persons within the meaning of Article 4 of that
      meaning that a system like that deriving from the               Directive, notwithstanding the fact that those persons are
      legislative amendments made by Law No 96 of                     public bodies.
      24 June 1997 and Legislative Decree No 469 of
      23 December 1997 constitutes an abuse of a
      dominant position.
                                                                      As regards the question of own resources, the Commission
                                                                      considers that, where the Sixth VAT Directive is infringed
( ) Case C-55/96 Job Centre [1997] ECR I-7119.
 1
                                                                      and consequently the base for the calculation of own
                                                                      resources is reduced, it must claim the amount of own
                                                                      resources which is owed by reason of that infringement.
                                                                      Otherwise the remaining Member States suffer financial
                                                                      loss and the principle of equality is infringed.
Action brought on 16 July 1998 by the Commission of the               (1) OJ L 145, 13.6.1977, p. 1.
    European Communities against the Hellenic Republic                (2) OJ L 155, 7.6.1989, p. 1.
                                                                      (3) OJ L 155, 7.6.1989, p. 9.
                          (Case C-260/98)
                           (98/C 299/21)
An action against the Hellenic Republic was brought
before the Court of Justice of the European Communities
on 16 July 1998 by the Commission of the European
Communities, represented by Dimitrios Goulousis, Legal                Action brought on 21 July 1998 by the Kingdom of the
Adviser, and HeÂleÁne Michard, of its Legal Service, with an               Netherlands against Commission of the European
address for service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos                                       Communities
Gómez de la Cruz, of its Legal Service, Wagner Centre,                                       (Case C-278/98)
Kirchberg.
                                                                                               (98/C 299/22)
The Commission claims that the Court should:
                                                                      An action against the Commission of the European
1. declare that, by failing, contrary to Articles 2 and 4 of          Communities was brought before the Court of Justice of
     the sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC (1), to subject           the European Communities on 21 July 1998 by the
     to value added tax road tolls, which constitute                  Kingdom of the Netherlands, represented by Marc Fierstra
     consideration paid by the users in return for the                and Nynke Wijmenga, Assistant Legal Advisers at the
     supply to them of a service consisting of the making             Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Hague.
     available of motorways and other road infrastructure,
     and, in addition, by avoiding in that way payment of
     own resources and of the interest due (Council
     Regulations (EEC, Euratom) No 1552/89 (2) and (EEC,              The applicant claims that the Court should:
     Euratom) No 1553/89 (3)), the Hellenic Republic has
     failed to fulfil its obligations under the EC Treaty;
                                                                      1. annul Commission Decision 98/358/EC (1) of 6 May
2. order the Hellenic Republic to make available to the                   1998 on the clearance of accounts presented by the
     Commission the own resources which have not been                     Member States in respect of the expenditure for 1994
     paid since 1987, together with interest for late                     of the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural
     payment;                                                             Guidance and Guarantee Fund (notified under
                                                                          document number C(1998) 1124) (1), in so far as a
                                                                          sum of NLG 16 378 716,63 concerning expenditure
3. order the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.                          on advance payments of export refunds is excluded
                                                                          from Community financing (reference C(98) 1124
                                                                          final);
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
According to the Commission, the grant of the right to use            2. order the Commission to pay the costs of the
a motorway or other road facility in return for the                       proceedings.