natgillin/translations-raw huggingface dataset:
Important limitations apply to invoking that principle, however, as decided by the Court of Justice.
Interný dokument spoločnosti Amazon: licenčná zmluva, bod 2.1. písm. b): „AEU [LuxOpCo] irrevocably and exclusively assigns and agrees to assign to Amazon EHT [LuxSCS], its successors, and assigns, all right, title, interest and ownership in and to any and all Derivative Works of the Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] Intellectual Property created by or for AEU [LuxOpCo] as provided under Section 2.1a).“
First, the Court has stated that that principle cannot be invoked unless the person invoking it ‘has been given precise assurances by the administration’.
Licenčná zmluva, bod 9.2: „a) AEU [LuxOpCo] shall, at its sole expense, use its best efforts to prevent, investigate, and prosecute any unauthorised use of any Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] Intellectual Property.
Second, Member States cannot invoke that principle in cases where they have failed to notify the aid measure to the Commission.
AEU [LuxOpCo] agrees to promptly inform Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] of any such unauthorised use that comes to the AEU [LuxOpCo]'s attention.
Third, the Commission's alleged failure to act is irrelevant when an aid measure has not been notified to it and, consequently, the Commission's silence cannot be interpreted as an implicit authorisation of the measure that may give rise to legitimate expectations.
To facilitate coordination of enforcement activities, AEU [LuxOpCo] shall consult with Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] before undertaking any actions to prevent such unauthorised use of Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] Intellectual Property. b) AEU [LuxOpCo] may, at its sole expense, institute and conduct suits to protect its rights under this Agreement against infringement any may retain all recoveries from any such suits.“ Pozri aj licenčnú zmluvu, bod 2.3 (Maintenance) a bod 9.5 (Compliance, Data Protection).
Consequently, since the Commission never gave precise assurances to Luxembourg that the contested tax ruling does not constitute aid and Luxembourg never notified the contested tax ruling to the Commission, Luxembourg cannot rely on the principle of legitimate expectations.
Interný dokument spoločnosti Amazon: licenčná zmluva, bod 3.1.
Luxembourg's subsequent claim that the Commission adopted a novel approach for a finding of State aid to the present case cannot be accepted.
Licenčná zmluva, bod 7 (No Warranties). „Each party provides its materials and services to the other pursuant to this agreement „as is,“ „with all faults“ and without warranties of any kind, express, implied, statutory or otherwise, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, reasonable care, workmanlike effort, results, lack of viruses, [Advisor 3] or completeness, all of which each party expressly disclaims, and each party assumes the entire risk as to the results and performance of those services and the materials. There is no warranty of title or noninfringement of any intellectual property rights or any warranty against interference with either party's or any other entity's enjoyment of information provided to it relating to this agreement. “
First, in response to an argument made by a Member State that direct taxation fell under its fiscal autonomy, the Court of Justice explicitly acknowledged, in a judgment of 1974, the application of the State aid rules in the field of direct taxation.
Pod názvom „third party materials“.
Since a tax ruling is no more than an interpretation of the tax rules to a particular situation, upon which a taxpayer may rely to determine its tax burden in a particular Member State, the State aid rules necessarily apply to tax rulings as well, as explicitly acknowledged by the Commission in its 1998 Notice on the application of the State aid rules to measures relating to direct business taxation (‘the 1998 Notice’).
Napríklad vo februári 2011 spoločnosť LuxOpCo nadobudla úplné vlastníctvo skupiny Lovefilm vrátane duševného vlastníctva tejto skupiny (pozri oznámenie spoločnosti Amazon zo 4. mája 2015).
Second, the Commission adopted a series of decisions in 2002 to 2004 in which it concluded that several tax schemes in various Member States constituted State aid because they endorsed a method of assessment of taxable income for certain categories of undertaking that departed from a reliable approximation of an arm's length outcome or otherwise benefitted certain multinational group companies under the ordinary rules of corporate taxation.
V rámci konsolidácie sa po nadobudnutí skupiny [akvizícia Q] sa spoločnosť Amazon rozhodla centralizovať v rámci spoločnosti LuxOpCo všetky „práva na digitálny obsah“ ( „digital content rights“)[…].
That a method of assessment of taxable income producing an outcome that diverges from the arm's length principle results in the grant of State aid for its beneficiary/-ies was explicitly endorsed by the Court of Justice in a 2006 judgment.
V licenčnej zmluve, v bode 3.2 sa stanovuje: „Third Party Materials, From time to time during the Term, AEU [LuxOpCo] may license or otherwise acquire rights to or ownership of third party materials, which AEU [LuxOpCo] may use in connection with the Licensed Purpose („Third Party Materials“).
Luxembourg further submits that it was explicitly confirmed at the Council (ECOFIN) meeting of 27 May 2011 that, in view of the adoption of the Circulars, Luxembourg's tax ruling practice should not be evaluated according to the Code of Conduct Group and that an agreement in a Code of Conduct Group meeting that ‘there [is] no need for the [Luxembourg tax measure on companies engaged in intra-group financing activities] to be assessed against the criteria of the Code of Conduct’ constitutes a precise assurance as to appropriateness of the general tax ruling practice of Luxembourg.
If in connection with obtaining a license to Third Party Materials, AEU [LuxOpCo] acquires the right to sublicense such Third Party Materials to Amazon EHT [LuxSCS], then AEU [LuxOpCo] hereby grants to Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] a royalty free and non-exclusive right and license to use such Third Party Materials during the Term in the same manner as and for the same purposes that such Third Party Materials have been licensed to AEU [LuxOpCo].
However, those submissions cannot be accepted as substantiating a claim of either legal certainty or legitimate expectations.
If AEU [LuxOpCo] acquires ownership of any Third Party Materials, then AEU [LuxOpCo] hereby grants Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] a royalty free and non-exclusive tight and license to use such Third Party Materials during the Term to the full extent that AEU [LuxOpCo] can use such Third Party Materials as the owner of the Third Party Material. “
First, the Code of Conduct and the State aid rules pursue different objectives: while the Code of Conduct aims at tackling harmful tax competition between Member States, the State aid rules seek to address distortions of competition that result from favourable treatment by Member States, also in the form of tax reductions, of certain undertakings.
Oznámenie spoločnosti Amazon z 18. januára 2016: „Both LuxOpCo and ASE rely on the Intangibles in operating their businesses.
Second, the Code of Conduct is not a legally binding instrument.
Inventory risk management, pricing, fulfilment, management and third party registration on Amazon's marketplaces, to name a few, are automated to a very large extent and the required technology is licensed from LuxSCS.
It is a forum of discussion for Member States on measures which have, or may have, a significant impact on the location of businesses within the Union.
As a result of this automation, these functions require limited involvement from LuxOpCo and ASE's employees beyond monitoring and management.“
While the Code of Conduct group enjoys a certain margin of discretion, the Commission enjoys no discretion in determining whether a tax measure falls to be considered State aid, since that notion is an objective one.
Licenčná zmluva, bod 2.1 písm. a) (Exclusive Intellectual Property License Grant).
Third, the Code of Conduct was adopted by the Council (ECOFIN), not the Commission, and therefore cannot bind the Commission in the exercise of its State aid competence.
Pozri poznámku pod čiarou 63.
Fourth, the Code of Conduct considered the Circulars on intra-group financing in general, whereas this Decision examines a specific tax ruling granted in favour of a specific company not related to intra-group financing.
Dohody o poskytovaní služieb, bod 3.1, Use by Provider.
Consequently, an agreement in the Code of Conduct Group meeting can neither bind nor restrict the Commission's actions in exercising its powers which are conferred on it by the Treaty in the field of State aid.
Licenčná zmluva, bod 4.1, Term.
The same is true for the agreements reached on 6 December 2011 in the OECD Forum, according to which ‘the following 10 regimes did not need to be examined further […] Luxembourg – Advance tax analysis for intra-group financing’.
Licenčná zmluva, bod 4.2, Immediate Termination upon Notice for Change of Control or Substantial Encumbrance.
The OECD is not a Union institution, nor is the Union a member of that organisation, and its conclusions, which are non-binding, cannot bind the institutions of the Union.
Licenčná zmluva, bod 4.3, Termination After Failure to Cure of Performance.
Moreover, far from giving a precise assurance, the OECD Forum refrained from further examining the Luxembourg tax analysis for intra-group financing.
Oznámenie Luxemburska z 21. novembra 2014, príloha 4.
It is therefore impossible to draw any kind of conclusions or inferences from this statement as regards the application of the State aid rules to the contested tax ruling, which is an individual transfer pricing ruling unrelated to intra-group financing.
Pozri odôvodnenie 128 pre vymedzenie pojmov používaných pri výpočte licenčného poplatku.
Amazon similarly invokes the principle of legitimate expectations, arguing that the Commission's investigation was based on a novel approach to the State aid rules.
Na základe vykonanej zmeny sa rozumie pod „prevádzkovým ziskom dosiahnutým v EÚ“ obrat dosiahnutý v EÚ po odpočítaní nákladov na tovar, suroviny a spotrebný materiál pre EÚ a prevádzkových nákladov pre EÚ a, na základe dohody medzi stranami, niektorých výdavkov bez zisku nezahrnutých do prevádzkových nákladov AEU.
The Commission has already explained in Recital 626 why that claim is unfounded.
Pozri poznámku pod čiarou na strane 84.
For a claim of legitimate expectations to succeed, the expectation must arise from prior Commission action in the form of precise assurances.
Ako sa uvádza v liste spoločnosti Amazon z 31. októbra 2003, s. 4: „Notwithstanding the tax transparency of LuxSCS, it would have been subject to municipal business tax (Article 2 MBTL) on its profits if these profits are derived by a permanent establishment situated in Luxembourg from the carrying out of a „commercial activity“ as defined by Article 14-1 ITL. “
This means that the legitimate expectation must arise from a previous behaviour of the Commission that, for instance, had already adopted a decision on the same or identical aid scheme.
Tento list ako aj list z 31. októbra 2003 boli doplnené o dodatočné informácie o reštrukturalizácii, predložené v listoch spoločnosti Amazon adresovaných luxemburskej daňovej správe 5. decembra 2004, 14. apríla 2006 a 20. apríla 2006.
Amazon did not refer to any such acts of the Commission, but instead claimed that ‘the application of State aid rules to individual tax rulings on transfer pricing has never been subject of any previous statement by the Commission’.
Luxemburská daňová správa potvrdila spoločnosti Amazon v listoch z 23. decembra 2004 a 27. apríla 2006, že: „As the changes discussed in your letter of April 14, 2006 and in the letter of April 20, 2006 by Mr. […] from [Advisor 1] will have no effect on the taxation of your group's companies, my letter of November 6, 2003 will remain in force.
The Commission recalls in this regard that State aid is an objective notion, so that even if no decisions existed prior to 2015 that declared individual tax rulings as giving rise to State aid, that does not mean that such rulings cannot give rise to State aid.
So, I have no objections to the content of the letters of April 14, 2006 and April 20, 2006 respectively.“
In any event, the Commission has adopted a number of decisions declaring schemes deviating from the arm's length principle as giving rise to State aid and it has adopted a number of decisions declaring individual tax measures to constitute State aid.
List spoločnosti Amazon z 23. októbra 2003, s. 5.
Amazon also invokes the principle of equal treatment, arguing that Amazon would be the only undertaking of many subject to the same tax treatment which would have to repay illegal aid.
List spoločnosti Amazon z 23. októbra 2003, s. 6.
However, the Court has already considered that the fact that other undertakings are granted State aid, even competitors, is irrelevant for determining whether a particular measure constitutes State aid.
Správa o TC, pozri odôvodnenie 4.
Since recovery is the logical consequence of the existence of unlawful aid, this must a fortiori apply to the repayment of the unlawful State aid.
Pozri správu o TC, oddiel 4.1, Overview of Methods.
In conclusion, no general principle of law prevents recovery in the present case.
V liste spoločnosti Amazon z 31. októbra 2003 sa okrem iného uvádza, že „spoločnosť LuxSCS bude znášať všetky riziká súvisiace s držbou práv duševného vlastníctva“.
METHODOLOGY FOR RECOVERY
List spoločnosti Amazon z 23. októbra 2003, s. 3 a 4.
The obligation on a State to abolish unlawful aid regarded by the Commission as being incompatible with the internal market is designed to re-establish the previously existing competitive situation on the market.
Riadiace pozície majú predstavovať 8 až 10 EPPÚ a zodpovedajú týmto funkciám: generálny riaditeľ pre Európu, národný riaditeľ pre Luxembursko, paneurópsky riaditeľ zásobovacieho reťazca, paneurópsky riaditeľ prevádzkovej excelentnosti, paneurópsky riaditeľ prevádzkového inžinierstva, riaditeľ informačných technológií, finančný riaditeľ operácií pre Európu.
In this context, the Court of Justice has stated that that objective is attained once the recipient has repaid the amounts granted by way of unlawful aid, thus forfeiting the advantage which it has enjoyed over its competitors on the market, and the situation prior to the payment of the aid is restored.
List spoločnosti Amazon z 23. októbra 2003, s. 4.
Rather, it is sufficient for the Commission's decision to include information enabling the addressee of the decision to work out that amount itself without overmuch difficulty .
Správa o TC, s. 29.
Union law merely requires recovery of unlawful aid to restore the position to the status quo ante and that repayment be made in accordance with the rules of national law.
Správa o TC, s. 20 a 21.
In relation to unlawful State aid in the form of tax measures, the amount to be recovered should be calculated on the basis of a comparison between the tax actually paid and the amount which should have been paid if the generally applicable rule had been applied.
V prvý rok dohody išlo o 7 miliónov USD a v druhý rok dohody o 8 miliónov USD; v: interný dokument spoločnosti Amazon: dohoda medzi spoločnosťou Amazon a [A], s. 155.
As concluded in Recital 542, the remuneration paid from LuxOpCo to LuxSCS should be determined on the basis of a TNMM whereby LuxSCS is considered as the less complex entity to the License Agreement and the remuneration to be paid by LuxOpCo to LuxSCS should be determined with reference to LuxSCS as the tested party.
Nárast zo 7 miliónov USD v druhom roku dohody na 35 miliónov USD v piatom roku; v: interný dokument spoločnosti Amazon: dohoda medzi spoločnosťou Amazon a [A], s. 155.
The remuneration of LuxSCS should reflect the fact that it performs an intermediary function in relation to the Intangibles, in that it merely holds the legal ownership and the licenses to the Intangibles owned by ATI and A9 but passes on the rights to develop, enhance, manage and exploit the Intangbles to LuxOpCo for the purpose of LuxOpCo's operation of Amazon's European retail business.
Najprv 5 %, potom 4 % vo štvrtom roku a v ďalších rokoch; v: interný dokument spoločnosti Amazon: dohoda medzi spoločnosťou Amazon a [A], s. 157.
It should also reflect the fact that LuxSCS itself at most performs solely limited functions in the form of general administrative services necessary to maintain its legal ownership of the Intangibles, which appear to be provided by external providers on LuxSCS's behalf (see Recital 429).
Správa o TC, s. 28.
As regards the determination of the appropriate cost base to which a mark-up should be applied, the Commission notes that LuxSCS does not record any sales and does not assume the risk in relation to the Intangibles.
Amadeus je databáza, ktorá obsahuje finančné údaje pre verejné a súkromné spoločnosti v celej Európe.
As a consequence, a cost-based remuneration should be used to determine the remuneration of LuxSCS, where a mark-up is applied only on the incurred external costs of its actual functions, but without a mark-up on the Buy-In and the CSA Costs, which are in reality just passed on by LuxSCS to A9 and ATI.
Riadi ju spoločnosť Bureau van Dijk, alebo BvD, poskytovateľ informácií o spoločnostiach a obchodných informácií.
As regards the appropriate level of the mark-up to be applied on LuxSCS's costs, which is assumed to reflect actual functions related to the necessary maintenance of the ownership of the Intangibles under LuxOpCo's control, the Commission considers, on the basis of the experience underlying the 2010 JTPF Report, that an appropriate mark-up for low-value adding services, such as those provided by LuxSCS in relation to the Intangibles, should be 5 %.
Daňový poradca obmedzil vyhľadávanie na tieto štáty: Nemecko, Rakúsko, Belgicko, Dánsko, Španielsko, Fínsko, Francúzsko, Grécko, Taliansko, Luxembursko, Nórsko, Holandsko, Portugalsko, Švédsko a Švajčiarsko.
However, where the facts and circumstances of the specific transaction support a different mark-up, that should be taken into consideration.
Boli použité tieto kľúčové slová: Computational, Design, Marketing, Merchandising, Programming, Promotion, Services, Web Design.
The Luxembourg tax authorities are therefore invited, within two months of the notification of this Decision, to put forward and justify the final level of that mark-up by comparing that mark-up with comparable transactions with independent service providers.
Algoriel, Askell, Decade, Seresco SA, Société de Gestion de Terminaux Informatiques, Solutec a Sydelis.
Should Luxembourg fail to do so, the Commission will accept a mark-up on LuxSCS's directly incurred external costs incurred in the maintenance of the ownership of the Intangibles of 5 %, to the extent that these costs reflect actual functions that are carried out by LuxSCS.
Správa o TC, príloha V.
In light of the foregoing considerations, the amount to be recovered should be determined: (i) by taking LuxOpCo's accounting profit in each of the years that the contested tax ruling was used to determine its corporate income tax liability; (ii) deduct therefrom the sum of Buy-In and CSA Costs, the costs for external services incurred for LuxSCS and the appropriate mark-up on the costs of those services to the extent that those costs reflects active functions by LuxSCS; (iii) apply to the resulting amount the ordinary rules of taxation of corporate profit in Luxembourg, including the standard corporate income tax, municipal tax, surcharges and wealth tax; and (iv) deduct from that amount the amount of tax effectively paid by LuxOpCo in each of the years that the contested tax ruling was in force.
Správa o TC, príloha V, s. 46.
It is the difference between (iii) and (iv) that constitutes the amount of aid to be recovered to eliminate the selective advantage granted by Luxembourg as a result of the contested tax ruling.
Správa o TC, s. 31.
ENTITY FROM WHOM THE AID IS TO BE RECOVERED
Správa o TC, s. 32.
In light of the observations in Recitals 607 to 610, the Commission considers that Luxembourg should, in the first place, recover the unlawful and incompatible aid granted by the contested tax ruling from LuxOpCo.
Správa o TC, s. 34.
Should LuxOpCo not be in a position to repay the full amount of the aid received as a result of the contested tax ruling, Luxembourg should recover any remaining amounts from the Amazon group or/and any of its successors, or group companies, since it is the entity which controls the Amazon group, which is the single economic unit benefitting from the aid (see Section 9.5).
Kvôli zaobchádzaniu so spoločnosťou LuxSCS ako s daňovo transparentným subjektom v Luxembursku sa poplatky, ktoré spoločnosť LuxOpCo zaplatila spoločnosti LuxSCS, nepovažujú za zdaniteľný príjem spoločnosti LuxSCS v Luxembursku, ale za zdaniteľný príjem jej spoločníkov v Spojených štátoch.
In this manner, the undue advantage granted by the contested tax ruling is eliminated and the previously existing situation on the market is restored through recovery.
Okrem toho od 1. januára 2004 Luxembursko neuložilo žiadnu zrážkovú daň z poplatkov z nehmotného majetku zaplatených príjemcom, ktorí nie sú rezidentmi.
EVIDENCE RELIED UPON BY THE COMMISSION FOR A FINDING OF AID
Luxembursko preto nevybralo žiadnu daň zo ziskov spoločnosti LuxSCS.
Luxembourg claimed that some of the information relied upon by the Commission during the formal investigation was not available to its tax administration on the date on which it adopted the contested tax ruling and that, therefore, the Commission enjoys the benefit of hindsight when examining that ruling.
Na druhej strane však, keďže Spojené štáty nepovažujú spoločnosť LuxSCS za daňovo transparentnú, ale skôr ako samostatný subjekt so sídlom v Luxembursku, zdanenie spoločníkov spoločnosti LuxSCS v Spojených štátoch môže byť odložené na neurčito, pokiaľ sa žiadny podiel na zisku spoločnosti LuxSCS nevráti do Spojených štátov.
The Commission observes that the arguments on which it bases its findings of advantage were available at that time.
Dôvodom odlišného daňového zaobchádzania so spoločnosťou LuxSCS v Luxembursku (ako daňovo transparentnou) a v Spojených štátoch (ako daňovo netransparentnou) je tzv. „hybridný nesúlad“, t. j. rozdiel v daňových predpisoch v Luxembursku a Spojených štátoch, pokiaľ ide o charakteristiku subjektu.
This relates, in particular, to the functional analysis in the ruling request and the TP Report.
Ako sa uvádza v odôvodnení 127.
In those documents, LuxSCS is clearly described as having neither employees nor a physical presence and its principal activities are described as being limited to those of an intangible holding company, and contract party to the CSA, to which it was supposed to contribute only financially.
Tieto podporné služby zahŕňali najmä všeobecnú správu, styk s verejnosťou a v rámci skupiny, účtovníctvo a audit, zostavovanie rozpočtu, právne a daňové poradenstvo ako aj vzdelávanie a rozvoj zamestnancov.
By contrast, LuxOpCo is described as performing the functions of the European headquarters, assuming the risks and managing the strategic decision-making and key physical components of the Amazon's online retail business in Europe.
Oznámenie spoločnosti Amazon z 21. augusta 2015, s. 7 a 8.
These descriptions should have made the Luxembourg tax administration call into question the inaccurate and unsubstantiated assumption that LuxSCS would perform unique and valuable functions in relation to the Intangibles which underpins the transfer pricing arrangement endorsed by the contested tax ruling.
Správa [Advisor 3], 11. mája 2017, preambula, s. 7.
In any event, as explained in Recital 620, the moment at which aid is granted to a taxpayer in the case of a tax ruling that endorses a method for determining its taxable income is each year that that taxpayer uses that ruling to determine its annual corporation tax liability and the tax administration accepts a declaration of taxable income determined on the basis of that method.
Správa [Advisor 3], 11. mája 2017, body 18 a 67, s. 8 a 30.