Ministero delle Finanze v IN.CO.GE.'90 Srl, Idelgard Srl, Iris'90 Srl, Camed Srl, Pomezia Progetti Appalti Srl (PPA), Edilcam Srl, A. Cecchini & C. Srl, EMO Srl, Emoda Srl, Sappesi Srl, Ing. Luigi Martini Srl, Giacomo Srl and Mafar Srl.
Date: 1998-10-22
14 It should be noted in this regard that, according to a consistent line of cases decided by the Court, it is for each Member State to determine which court or tribunal has jurisdiction to hear disputes involving individual rights derived from Community law.  However, it is the Member States' responsibility to ensure that those rights are effectively protected in each case.  Subject to that reservation, it is not for the Court to involve itself in the resolution of questions of jurisdiction to which the classification of particular situations based on Community law may give rise in the national judicial system (Case 179/84 Bozzetti v Invernizzi [1985] ECR 2301, paragraph 17; Case C-446/93 SEIM v Subdirector-Geral das Alfândegas [1996] ECR I-73, paragraph 32; and Case C-54/96 Dorsch Consult v Bundesbaugesellschaft Berlin [1997] ECR I-4961, paragraph 40).
15 However, the Court has power to explain to the national court points of Community law which may help to solve the problem of jurisdiction with which that court is faced (Bozzetti, paragraph 18, and SEIM, paragraph 33, both cited above).  To that end, it may, if appropriate, extract the relevant points from the wording of the question submitted and the facts set forth by the national court (see, in particular, Case 54/80 Procureur de la République v Wilner [1980] ECR 3673, paragraph 4).
20 In Simmenthal, the issue facing the Court related in particular to the consequences of the direct applicability of a provision of Community law where that provision was incompatible with a subsequently adopted provision of national law.  The Court had already stressed, in its previous decisions (see, in particular, Case 6/64 Costa v ENEL [1964] ECR 585), that it was impossible for a Member State to accord precedence to a national rule over a conflicting rule of Community law, but did not draw any distinction between pre-existing and subsequently adopted national law.  So, in Simmenthal, the Court held that every national court must, in a case within its jurisdiction, apply Community law in its entirety and protect rights which the latter confers on individuals, setting aside any provision of national law which may conflict with it, whether prior or subsequent to the Community rule (Simmenthal, paragraphs 21 and 24).  That case-law has been reaffirmed on numerous occasions (see, in particular, Debus, cited above, paragraph 32; Case C-158/91 Levy [1993] ECR I-4287, paragraph 9; and Case C-347/96 Solred v Administración General del Estado [1998] ECR I-937, paragraph 30).
21 It cannot therefore, contrary to the Commission's contention, be inferred from the judgment in Simmenthal that the incompatibility with Community law of a subsequently adopted rule of national law has the effect of rendering that rule of national law non-existent.  Faced with such a situation, the national court is, however, obliged to disapply that rule, provided always that this obligation does not restrict the power of the competent national courts to apply, from among the various procedures available under national law, those which are appropriate for protecting the individual rights conferred by Community law (see Case 34/67 Lück v Hauptzollamt Köln-Rheinau [1968] ECR 245).
23 It is settled case-law that the interpretation which, in the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred upon it by Article 177 of the Treaty, the Court gives to a rule of Community law clarifies and defines where necessary the meaning and scope of that rule as it must be or ought to have been understood and applied from the time of its entry into force.  It follows that the rule as so interpreted may, and must, be applied by the courts to legal relationships arising and established before the judgment ruling on the request for interpretation, provided that in other respects the conditions enabling an action relating to the application of that rule to be brought before the courts having jurisdiction are satisfied (see Case 61/79 Amministrazione delle Finanze dello Stato v Denkavit Italiana [1980] ECR 1205, paragraph 16, and Case C-188/95 Fantask and Others v Industriministeriet [1997] ECR I-6783, paragraph 37).
24 Further, in terms of that case-law, entitlement to the recovery of sums levied in breach of Community law is a consequence of, and an adjunct to, the rights conferred on individuals by the relevant Community provisions as interpreted by the Court.  A Member State is therefore in principle required to repay charges levied in breach of Community law (Fantask and Others, paragraph 38).
25 However, in the absence of Community rules governing the matter, such repayment may be claimed only if the substantive and formal conditions laid down by the various national laws are complied with, provided that such conditions are not less favourable than those governing similar domestic actions and do not render virtually impossible or excessively difficult the exercise of rights conferred by Community law (see, in particular, Case C-312/93 Peterbroeck v Belgian State [1995] ECR I-4599, paragraph 12, and Case C-212/94 FMC and Others v Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food [1996] ECR I-389, paragraph 71).
26 Thus, the obligation on the national court to ensure that a domestic charge levied in breach of Community law is refunded must, subject to compliance with the two conditions laid down by the Court in its case-law, be discharged in accordance with the provisions of its national law.  It follows that the detailed rules for repayment which are to apply and the classification, for that purpose, of the legal relationship established when that charge was levied between the tax authorities of a Member State and particular companies in that State are matters which fall to be determined under national law.
27 Furthermore, as the Court has recently held, Community law does not in principle preclude the legislation of a Member State from laying down, alongside a limitation period applicable under the ordinary law to actions between private individuals for the recovery of sums paid but not due, special detailed rules governing claims and legal proceedings to challenge the imposition of charges and other levies (Case C-231/96 Edis v Ministero delle Finanze [1998] ECR I-4951, paragraph 37, and Case C-260/96 Ministero delle Finanze v Spac [1998] ECR I-4997, paragraph 21).