Jennifer Gregg and Mervyn Gregg v Commissioners of Customs and Excise.
Date: 1999-09-07
12 It should be observed at the outset that, according to settled case-law of the Court, the terms used to describe the exemptions envisaged by Article 13 of the Sixth Directive are to be interpreted strictly since these constitute exceptions to the general principle that VAT is to be levied on all services supplied for consideration by a taxable person (see Case C-2/95 SDC v Skatteministeriet [1997] ECR I-3017, paragraph 20).
13 Furthermore, the Court held, in Case 107/84 Commission v Germany [1985] ECR 2655, paragraph 13, that, although it is true that the exemptions are granted in favour of activities pursuing specific objectives, most of the provisions also define the bodies which are authorised to supply the exempted services and those services are not defined by reference to purely material or functional criteria.
14 As the Court stated in Bulthuis-Griffioen, cited above, paragraph 20, the terms `body' or `organisation' are used in some provisions of Article 13A(1) of the Sixth Directive whilst in others the activity in question is described by reference to individuals in their professional capacity, such as the medical and paramedical professions (under (c)), dental technicians (under (e)), and teachers giving private tuition (under (j)).
15 However, notwithstanding what the Court stated in Bulthuis-Griffioen, cited above, at paragraph 20, it cannot be inferred from the fact that Article 13A(1) of the Sixth Directive mentions different categories of economic operators that the exemptions provided for in that provision are confined to legal persons where it refers expressly to activities undertaken by `establishments' or `organisations', whilst in other cases an exemption may also be claimed by natural persons.
16 That interpretation is not affected by the fact that, as the Court held in Bulthuis-Griffioen, cited above, at paragraphs 18 and 19, the specific conditions concerning the status or identity of the economic operator performing the services covered by the exemption are to be interpreted strictly.
17 The terms `establishment' and `organisation' are in principle sufficiently broad to include natural persons as well. It may be added that none of the language versions of Article 13A of the Sixth Directive include the term `legal person', which would have been clear and unambiguous, instead of the abovementioned terms. It may be inferred that, in employing those terms, the Community legislature did not intend to confine the exemptions referred to in that provision to the activities carried on by legal persons, but meant to extend the scope of those exemptions to activities carried on by individuals.
18 It is true that the terms `establishment' and `organisation' suggest the existence of an individualised entity performing a particular function. Those conditions are, however, satisfied not only by legal persons but also by one or more natural persons running a business.
19 That interpretation, to the effect that the terms `establishment' and `organisation' do not refer only to legal persons, is, in particular, consistent with the principle of fiscal neutrality inherent in the common system of VAT and in compliance with which the exemptions provided for in Article 13 of the Sixth Directive must be applied (see, to that effect, Case C-283/95 Fischer [1998] ECR I-3369, paragraph 27).
20 The principle of fiscal neutrality precludes, inter alia, economic operators carrying on the same activities from being treated differently as far as the levying of VAT is concerned. It follows that that principle would be frustrated if the possibility of relying on the benefit of the exemption provided for activities carried on by the establishments or organisations referred to in Article 13A(1)(b) and (g) was dependent on the legal form in which the taxable person carried on his activity.