Athinaïki Zythopoiia AE v Elliniko Dimosio.
Date: 2001-10-04
25 The Court notes as a preliminary point that, as appears particularly from the third recital in its preamble, the Directive seeks, by the introduction of a common tax system, to eliminate any disadvantage to cooperation between companies of different Member States as compared with cooperation between companies of the same Member State and thereby to facilitate the grouping together of companies at Community level. With a view to avoiding double taxation, Article 5(1) of the Directive provides for exemption in the State of the subsidiary from withholding tax upon distribution of profits (Joined Cases C-283/94, C-291/94 and C-292/94 Denkavit and Others [1996] ECR I-5063, paragraph 22).
26 In order to determine whether the taxation of distributed profits pursuant to the Greek legislation at issue in the main proceedings falls within the scope of Article 5(1) of the Directive, it is necessary, first, to refer to the wording of that provision. The term withholding tax contained in it is not limited to certain specific types of national taxation (see Case C-375/98 Epson Europe [2000] ECR I-4243, paragraph 22).
27 Second, it is settled case-law that the nature of a tax, duty or charge must be determined by the Court, under Community law, according to the objective characteristics by which it is levied, irrespective of its classification under national law (see, in particular, Joined Cases C-197/94 and C-252/94 Bautiaa and Société française maritime [1996] ECR I-505, paragraph 39).
35 It is settled case-law that the interpretation which, in the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred upon it by Article 234 EC, 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 entry 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 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 Denkavit italiana [1980] ECR 1205, paragraph 16, and Bautiaa and Société française maritime, cited above, paragraph 47).
36 Having regard to those principles, it is only exceptionally that the Court may limit the effects of a judgment ruling on a request for interpretation. The Court has taken such a step only in certain specific circumstances, for instance where there was a risk of serious economic repercussions owing in particular to the large number of legal relationships entered into in good faith on the basis of rules considered to be validly in force, and where it appeared that both individuals and national authorities had been prompted to adopt practices which did not comply with Community law by reason of objective, significant uncertainty regarding the implications of Community provisions, to which the conduct of other Member States or the Commission may even have contributed (see Bautiaa and Société française maritime, paragraph 47).
39 Secondly, the argument relating to the extent of the financial loss which the Greek Government would have to bear cannot be upheld. The financial consequences which might ensue for a government owing to the unlawfulness of a tax or charge have never in themselves justified limiting the effects of a judgment of the Court. After all, if it were otherwise, the most serious infringements would receive more lenient treatment in so far as it is those infringements that are likely to have the most significant financial implications for Member States (see Joined Cases C-367/93 to C-377/93 Roders and Others [1995] ECR I-2229, paragraph 48). Furthermore, to limit the effects of a judgment solely on the basis of such considerations would considerably diminish the judicial protection of the rights which taxpayers have under Community fiscal legislation (Bautiaa and Société française maritime, paragraph 55).