Ákos Nádasdi v Vám- és Pénzügyőrség Észak-Alföldi Regionális Parancsnoksága (C-290/05) and Ilona Németh v Vám- és Pénzügyőrség Dél-Alföldi Regionális Parancsnoksága (C-333/05).
Date: 2006-10-05
28. In that regard, the Court observes that the procedure laid down in Article 234 EC is based on a clear separation of functions between the national courts and the Court of Justice. It is solely for the national court before which the dispute has been brought, and which must assume responsibility for the subsequent judicial decision, to determine in the light of the particular circumstances of the case both the need for a preliminary ruling in order to enable it to deliver judgment and the relevance of the questions which it submits to the Court. Consequently, where the questions submitted concern the interpretation of Community law, the Court is in principle bound to give a ruling (see, inter alia, Case C‑13/05 Chacón Navas  [2006] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 32 and the case-law cited).
29. Nevertheless, the Court has also stated that, in exceptional circumstances, it can examine the conditions in which the case was referred to it by the national court, in order to confirm its own jurisdiction. The Court may refuse to rule on a question referred for a preliminary ruling by a national court only where it is quite obvious that the interpretation of Community law that is sought bears no relation to the actual facts of the main action or its purpose, where the problem is hypothetical, or where the Court does not have before it the factual or legal material necessary to give a useful answer to the questions submitted to it ( Chacón Navas , paragraph 33, and the case-law cited).
30. The need to provide an interpretation of Community law which will be of use to the national court implies that the national court must have defined the factual and legislative context of the questions it is asking or, at the very least, have explained the factual circumstances on which those questions are based (see Case C‑207/01 Altair Chimica  [2003] ECR I‑8875, paragraph 24, and Case C‑145/03 Keller [2005] ECR I‑2529, paragraph 29).
38. A tax such as the registration duty is not a customs duty in the strict sense.
39. As regards the question whether that duty is a charge having equivalent effect, it is settled case-law that any pecuniary charge, whatever its designation and mode of application, which is imposed unilaterally on goods by reason of the fact that they cross a frontier, and which is not a customs duty in the strict sense, constitutes a charge having equivalent effect within the meaning of Articles 23 EC and 25 EC (see, inter alia, Case C‑90/94 Haahr Petroleum  [1997] ECR I‑4085, paragraph 20, and Case C-213/96 Outokumpu [1998] ECR I‑1777, paragraph 20).
40. A tax such as that imposed by the Law on registration duty is not levied by reason of a vehicle crossing the frontier of the Member State imposing that tax but upon first registration of the vehicle in the territory of that State for the purpose of being placed in circulation.
41. Such a tax comes under the general system of internal taxation on goods and must therefore be examined in the light of Article 90 EC.
45. As the Court has already held, within the system of the EC Treaty, Article 90 EC supplements the provisions on the abolition of customs duties and charges having equivalent effect. Its aim is to ensure free movement of goods between the Member States in normal conditions of competition by the elimination of all forms of protection which may result from the application of internal taxation that discriminate against products from other Member States (Joined Cases C‑393/04 and C‑41/05 Air Liquide Industries Belgium  [2006] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 55, and the case-law cited).
46. As far as the taxation of imported used vehicles is concerned, the Court has also held that Article 90 EC seeks to ensure the complete neutrality of internal taxation as regards competition between products already on the domestic market and imported products (see Case C-387/01 Weigel [2004] ECR I‑4981, paragraph 66, and the case-law cited).
47. According to settled case-law, the first paragraph of Article 90 EC is infringed where the tax charged on the imported product and that charged on the similar domestic product are calculated in a different manner on the basis of different criteria which lead, if only in certain cases, to higher taxation being imposed on the imported product (see Weigel , paragraph 67, and the case-law cited). However, even if the conditions for such direct discrimination are not met, taxation might be indirectly discriminatory as a result of its effects.
49. A comparison with used vehicles placed in circulation in Hungary before the entry into force of the Law on registration duty is not relevant. Article 90 EC is not designed to prevent a Member State from introducing new taxes or from changing the rate or basis of assessment of existing taxes.
51. As regards the criteria which may be used for calculating a tax, the Court observes that, as it currently stands, Community law does not restrict the freedom of each Member State to establish a tax system which differentiates between certain products, even products which are similar within the meaning of the first paragraph of Article 90 EC, on the basis of objective criteria, such as the nature of the raw materials used or the production processes employed. Such differentiation is compatible with Community law, however, only if it pursues objectives which are themselves compatible with the requirements of the Treaty and its secondary legislation, and if the detailed rules are such as to avoid any form of discrimination, direct or indirect, against imports from other Member States or any form of protection of competing domestic products ( Outokumpu , paragraph 30).
54. A new vehicle in respect of which registration duty has been paid in Hungary loses, with time, part of its market value. With the depreciation in value, the amount of registration duty included in the residual value of the vehicle also diminishes. Since it is a used vehicle, it can be sold only for a percentage of its initial value, which contains the residual amount of the registration duty.
62. According to settled case-law, the interpretation which the Court, in the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred upon it by Article 234 EC, gives to a rule of Community law clarifies and where necessary defines 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 can, and must, be applied by the courts even to legal relationships arising and established before the judgment ruling on the request for interpretation, provided that in other respects the conditions for bringing before the courts having jurisdiction an action relating to the application of that rule are satisfied (see, inter alia, Case 24/86 Blaizot  [1988] ECR 379, paragraph 27, Case C‑415/93 Bosman  [1995] ECR I‑4921, paragraph 141, and Case C‑402/03 Skov and Bilka  [2006] ECR I‑199, paragraph 50).
63. It is only exceptionally that the Court may, in application of the general principle of legal certainty inherent in the Community legal order, be moved to restrict for any person concerned the opportunity of relying on a provision which it has interpreted with a view to calling in question legal relationships established in good faith. Two essential criteria must be fulfilled before such a limitation can be imposed, namely that those concerned should have acted in good faith and that there should be a risk of serious difficulties (see, inter alia, Case C‑57/93 Vroege [1994] ECR I‑4541, paragraph 21, Case C‑372/98 Cooke  [2000] ECR I‑8683, paragraph 42, and Skov and Bilka , paragraph 51).
69. As regards the administrative cost, Community law requires merely that the Member State reimburse the excess amount in conformity with the rules of national law, provided that the principles of equivalence and effectiveness are respected (see to that effect, inter alia, Case C‑231/96 Edis  [1998] ECR I-4951, paragraphs 19, 20 and 34, and Case C‑30/02 Recheio – Cash & Carry  [2004] ECR I‑6051, paragraphs 17, 18 and 20).