BP Soupergaz Anonimos Etairia Geniki Emporiki-Viomichaniki kai Antiprossopeion v Greek State.
Date: 1995-07-06
10 In that regard the Court has consistently held that it is for the national courts alone, before which the proceedings are pending and which must assume responsibility for the judgment to be given, to determine, having regard to the particular features of each case, both the need for a preliminary ruling to enable them to give judgment and the relevance of the questions which they refer to the Court.  A request for a preliminary ruling from a national court may be rejected only if it is quite obvious that the interpretation of Community law or the examination of the validity of a rule of Community law sought by that court bears no relation to the actual nature of the case or the subject-matter of the main action (see, among others, the judgments in Case C-67/91 Asociación Española de Banca Privada and Others [1992]  ECR I-4785, paragraphs 25 and 26, and Joined Cases C-332/92, C-333/92 and C-335/92 Eurico Italia and Others [1994] ECR I-1711, paragraph 17).  However, that is not the position in this case.
13 Since the Court of Justice has no jurisdiction, in proceedings for a preliminary ruling under Article 177, to rule on the compatibility of a national measure with Community law (see, in particular, the judgment in Case C-188/91 Deutsche Shell v Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Harburg [1993] I-363, paragraph 27), it is unable to rule on the validity of that argument.
16 The fundamental principle which underlies the VAT system, and which follows from Article 2 of the First and Sixth Directives, is that VAT applies to each transaction by way of production or distribution after deduction has been made of the VAT which has been levied directly on transactions relating to inputs.
18 The right of deduction provided for in Article 17 et seq. of the Sixth Directive is an integral part of the VAT scheme and in principle may not be limited.  The Court has consistently held (see, in particular, Case 50/87 Commission v France [1988] ECR 4797, paragraphs 15 to 17 and Case C-97/90 Lennartz v Finanzamt Muenchen III [1991] ECR I-3795, paragraph 27) that the right of deduction must be exercised immediately in respect of all the taxes charged on transactions relating to inputs.  Any limitation on the right of deduction affects the level of the tax burden and must be applied in a similar manner in all the Member States.  Consequently, derogations are permitted only in the cases expressly provided for in the directive.
22 The Court has held (see Case 5/84 Direct Cosmetics v Commissioners of Customs and Excise [1985] ECR 617, paragraph 24) that measures derogating from the directive do not accord with Community law unless they remain within the limits of the objectives referred to in Article 27(1) and have also been notified to the Commission and impliedly or expressly authorized by the Council in the circumstances specified in paragraphs (1) and (4) of Article 27.
34 It follows from that case-law that, despite the relatively wide discretion enjoyed by the Member States in implementing certain provisions of the Sixth Directive, individuals may effectively plead before national courts the provisions of the directive which are sufficiently clear, precise and unconditional (Balocchi, paragraph 34).
35 The provisions of Article 11A(1) and B(1) and (2) specify the rules for determining the taxable amount whilst Article 17(1) and (2) specify the conditions giving rise to the right to deduct and the extent of that right.  They do not leave the Member States any discretion as regards their implementation.  Accordingly, they satisfy the abovementioned criteria and therefore confer rights on individuals which they may invoke before a national court in order to challenge national rules which are incompatible with those provisions.
36 Consequently, it should be stated in reply to the first part of Question 2 that the provisions of Article 11A(1) and B(1) and (2) and of Article 17(1) and (2) of the Sixth Directive confer rights on individuals on which they may rely before a national court.
Question 2, second part
39 Nevertheless, the Court has held (see, in particular, the judgment in Case 309/85 Barra v Belgium and Another [1988] ECR 355, paragraph 11) that the interpretation which, in the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred upon it by Article 177, the Court of Justice 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 coming into force.  It follows that the rule as thus interpreted may, and must, be applied by the courts even to legal relationships arising and established before delivery of the judgment ruling on the request for interpretation, provided that in other respects the conditions under which an action relating to the application of that rule may be brought before the courts having jurisdiction are satisfied.
40 It follows more particularly that the right to obtain a refund of amounts charged by a Member State in breach of rules of Community law is the consequence and complement of the rights conferred on individuals by the Community provisions as interpreted by the Court (Barra, paragraph 17).
41 While it is true that such a refund may be sought only in the framework of the substantive and procedural conditions laid down by the various relevant national laws, the Court has consistently held (see inter alia the judgment in Case 199/82 San Giorgio [1983] ECR 3595, Case 309/85 Barra, cited above, paragraph 18, Case C-208/90 Emmot v Minister for Social Welfare and the Attorney General [1991] ECR I-4269, paragraph 16, and Case C-410/92 Johnson v Chief Adjudication Officer [1984] ECR I-5483, paragraph 21), that those conditions and the procedural conditions and rules governing actions at law for protecting the rights which individuals derive from the direct effect of Community law may not be less favourable than those relating to similar, domestic actions nor be framed in a way such as to render virtually impossible the exercise of rights conferred by Community law.