natgillin/translations-raw huggingface dataset:
The Commission has already explained in Recital 626 why that claim is unfounded.
Rapporten om internprissättning, s. 13. ”As of the Restructuring Date, LuxSCS' principal activities will be limited to those of an intangible holding company and a participant in the ongoing development of the Intangibles through the CSA.
For a claim of legitimate expectations to succeed, the expectation must arise from prior Commission action in the form of precise assurances.
Additionally, LuxSCS will license the Intangibles to LuxOpCo, subject to the Intangibles License, and will receive royalty payments pursuant to this license.”
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.
Skrivelse från Amazon av den 20 april 2006 till Luxemburgs skattemyndighet (redigerad av Amazons skatterådgivare [Advisor 1]), s. 2: ”EHT [LuxSCS], a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc was created for the purpose of holding and developing intellectual property (by way of financial contribution only).[…] EHT [LuxSCS] has an activity limited to the mere holding of Amazon's EU intellectual property, the shares in AEU and has concluded a limited number of legal agreements necessary for the Luxembourg structure to operate (as described under point 1.2 below).
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’.
EHT [LuxSCS] will only receive passive income from its subsidiaries (interest and royalties).”
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.
I punkt 1.2 i denna skrivelse beskrivs de avtal som nämns i skäl 105.
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.
Ett annat företag i koncernen som erhöll en begränsad finansiering från LuxSCS var Amazon Eurasia Holding Sarl ([20–30] miljoner euro under 2013).
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.
License Agreement For Pre-existing Intellectual Property och Assignment Agreement For Pre-existing Intellectual Property (avtal om licensiering av befintliga immateriella rättigheter och avtal om avyttring av befintliga immateriella rättigheter), som båda ingåtts av LuxSCS och ATI den 1 januari 2005.
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.
Intellectual Property Assignment and License Agreement (avtal om licensiering och avyttring av befintliga immateriella rättigheter) som ingåtts av LuxSCS, Amazon.fr SARL, Amazon.de GmbH och Amazon.co.uk Ltd den 30 april 2006.
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.
Enligt punkt 1.8 i kostnadsfördelningsavtalet avses med derivatverk (derivative works) alla nya verk som skapas av en part i kostnadsfördelningsavtalet eller för denna part med utgångspunkt från befintligt material som ingår i en annan parts immateriella tillgångar eller är resultatet av tillgång till eller användning av detta (”any and all new works created by or for one Party [to the CSA] from preexisting material contained within, or as a result of access to or use of another Party's intellectual property, […].”).
In conclusion, no general principle of law prevents recovery in the present case.
Kostnadsfördelningsavtalet, avsnitt 6 (License and Ownership).
METHODOLOGY FOR RECOVERY
Som förklaras i punkt 6.4 i kostnadsfördelningsavtalet har LuxSCS, utöver licenserna för de immateriella tillgångar som A9 och ATI överlåtit till det enligt kostnadsfördelningsavtalet, också behållit ägandet och äganderätten till alla immateriella tillgångar som det har bidragit till.
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.
Kostnadsfördelningsavtalet, punkt 1.13 (Licensed Purpose).
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.
Kostnadsfördelningsavtalet, avsnitt 4 (Development Cost Allocation) och avsnitt 5 (Payments).
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 .
Kostnadsfördelningsavtalet i kraft den 5 januari 2009, punkt 2.3.
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.
Som förklaras i avsnitt 1.1 i kostnadsfördelningsavtalet utgörs A9:s bidrag till kostnadsfördelningsavtalet i form av immateriella rättigheter enbart av de immateriella rättigheter inom sök- och navigeringsteknik för e-handel som A9 äger eller på annat sätt förfogar över.
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.
Se skäl 174 och följande för närmare detaljer.
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.
Det rör sig om uppgifter som samlas in om produkter och kunder, bland annat kundrecensioner, redaktionella recensioner, produktinformation, kundnamn, köphistorik och andra uppgifter.
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.
Som beskrivs i Amazons skrivelse av den 21 augusti 2015 förvärvade LuxSCS den lagenliga äganderätten till de europeiska kunduppgifter som Amazon Int'l Sales, Inc. och Amazon Int'l Marketplace, Inc. samlat in inom ramen för omstruktureringen av de europeiska verksamheterna.
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).
Kunddatabasen fylldes sedan på och drevs av LuxOpCo.
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.
Det vill säga det registrerade varumärket, handelsnamnet, stilen, logotypen, presentationen av Amazon och tillhörande immateriella tillgångar.
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.
I punkterna 1.1, 1.4 och 1.11 i kostnadsfördelningsavtalet föreskrivs följande: ”Notwithstanding the foregoing, the parties expressly agree that the […][Intangibles] does not include any World Wide Web domain names.”
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 %.
Som förklaras i skrivelsen från Amazon av den 12 juni 2015, överförde LuxSCS sin andel av LuxOpCo till Amazon Europe Core S.à r.l. den 16 december 2013.
However, where the facts and circumstances of the specific transaction support a different mark-up, that should be taken into consideration.
Rapporten om internprissättning, s. 30.
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.
Skrivelse från Amazon av den 5 mars 2015, punkt 6, samt internt dokument från Amazon: Skrivelse från Amazon till Luxemburgs skattemyndighet av den 14 april 2006, s. 2.
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.
Rapporten om internprissättning, s. 13.
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.
Den officiella säljaren är den som innehar varorna och erbjuder dem till försäljning och som ansvarar för uppbörd och inbetalning av mervärdesskatten.
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.
Parliament of the United Kingdom, House of Commons: Report on HMRC's 2011–2012 Accounts (räkenskapsrapport 2011–2012 för Förenade kungarikets tull- och skattemyndighet HMRC) – Skriftliga bevis från Amazon EU Sarl av Andrew Cecil (direktör för EU-politiska frågor, LuxOpCo, Luxemburg), den 13 november 2012: ”Amazon EU Sarl owns the inventory, earns the profits associated with the selling these products to end customers and bears the risk of any loss.
ENTITY FROM WHOM THE AID IS TO BE RECOVERED
From Luxembourg, Amazon EU Sarl processes and settles payments from its European customers.”
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.
Finns på webbadressen https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmpubacc/writev/716/m03.htm.
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).
Meddelande från Amazon av den 22 mars 2016, s. 1 och 2, samt bilaga E.
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.
LuxOpCo ansvarade för den centraliserade förvaltningen av kassaflödet och kontanthanteringen inom Amazons europeiska verksamhet; se internt dokument från Amazon: Luxembourg Headquarters – Overview, s. 11–17, och internt dokument från Amazon: Pre & Post Goldcrest Balance Sheet Analysis, s. 1. och internt dokument från Amazon: Advance Tax Agreement (förhandsbesked i skattefrågor), skrivelse från Amazon till M. […] av den 2 april 2014, punkt 11, samt internt dokument från Amazon: EU Policies and Procedures Manual av den 1 maj 2006, s. 3.
EVIDENCE RELIED UPON BY THE COMMISSION FOR A FINDING OF AID
Skrivelse från Amazon till Luxemburgs skattemyndighet av den 14 april 2006, s. 2.
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.
Enligt ordningen för skattekonsolidering av företag kan ett moderbolag vara skattskyldigt tillsammans med ett eller flera av sina dotterbolag.
The Commission observes that the arguments on which it bases its findings of advantage were available at that time.
När det gäller beskattning av företag innebär det att dotterbolagen betraktas som skattemässigt integrerade i moderbolaget.
This relates, in particular, to the functional analysis in the ruling request and the TP Report.
För att kunna omfattas av ordningen för skattekonsolidering av företag måste moderbolaget direkt eller indirekt äga minst 95 % av dotterbolagets aktiekapital, och både moderbolag och dotterbolag måste vara kapitalbolag (société de capitaux) med säte i Luxemburg som helt och hållet omfattas av bolagsbeskattning.
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.
Konsolideringen ska omfatta minst fem räkenskapsår (se artikel 164 bis i LIR).
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.
Skrivelse från Amazon av den 6 mars 2017, bilaga 28a.
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.
Se avsnitt 2.3.3.3.
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.
Interna dokument från Amazon: Amended and Restated Service Agreement mellan LuxOpCo och Amazon.fr SARL, Amended and Restated Service Agreement mellan LuxOpCo och Amazon.fr Logistique SAS, Amended and Restated Service Agreement mellan LuxOpCo och Amazon.co.uk Ltd, Amended and Restated Service Agreement mellan LuxOpCo och Amazon Logistik GmbH, samt Amended and Restated Service Agreement mellan LuxOpCo och Amazon.de GmbH, alla daterade den 1 maj 2006.
Consequently, any information that subsequently called into question the critical assumptions on which that ruling were based should have led either to a revision of that ruling or to a refusal by the Luxembourg tax administration to accept a tax declaration relying upon the transfer pricing arrangement endorsed in that ruling in the more than eight years in which LuxOpCo relied upon it to determine its corporate income tax liability in Luxembourg.
Se skäl 109.
CONCLUSION
Tjänsteavtalen, punkt 4.1 (Fees): ”In consideration of [EU Local Affiliate]'s performance of the Services, [LuxOpCo] shall pay [EU Local Affiliate] fees (the ’Service Fees’) equal to the Applicable Costs (as defined in Exhibit 1) incurred by [EU Local Affiliate] in providing the corresponding Services, plus the Applicable Markup set forth in Exhibit 1. […]. ”
In conclusion, the Commission finds that Luxembourg, in breach of Articles 107(1) and 108(3) of the Treaty, has unlawfully granted State aid to LuxOpCo and the Amazon group by way of the contested tax ruling and by accepting each year a corporate income tax declaration based thereon which Luxembourg is required to recover by virtue of Article 16 of Regulation (EU) 2015/1589 from LuxOpCo and, if the latter fails to repay the full amount of the aid, from the Amazon group or any of its successors, or group companies for the outstanding amount of aid.
Enligt bestämmelserna i bilaga 1 ( Exhibit 1) definieras de tillämpliga kostnaderna som summan av alla driftskostnader, såsom de fastställts i enlighet med god redovisningssed i Förenta staterna (US GAAP), med direkt och indirekt samband med tjänsterna, med undantag för räntekostnader, utdelningar från de europeiska dotterbolagen, växlingsavgifter och andra kostnader som uteslutits genom ömsesidig överenskommelse, enligt vad som bedöms nödvändigt.
Accordingly, the Commission,
Det tillämpliga påslaget definieras som en viss procentandel av de tillämpliga kostnaderna, som varierar mellan 3 % och 8 % beroende på typen av levererad tjänst och det europeiska dotterbolaget.
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Som förklaras i de skäl som behandlar tjänsteavtalen, fastställs kostnadspåslaget på grundval av en ”global ekonomisk analys” av ersättningstaxan enligt armlängdsprincipen för de tjänster som de europeiska dotterbolagen utfört åt LuxOpCo.
Article 1
Licensavtalet, punkt 2.1 a och punkt 1.5 (Licensed Purpose).
The tax ruling of 6 November 2003, by virtue of which Luxembourg endorsed a transfer pricing arrangement proposed by Amazon.com, Inc. that allowed Amazon EU S.á.r.l. to assess its corporate income tax liability in Luxembourg from 2006 to 2014 and the subsequent acceptance of the yearly corporate income tax declaration based thereon constitutes aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union that is incompatible with the internal market and that was unlawfully put into effect by Luxembourg in breach of Article 108(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
I punkt 2.1.a föreskrivs följande: ”(a) ’Exclusive Intellectual Property License Grant’.Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] irrevocably grants AEU [LuxOpCo], under all Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] intellectual property rights in or comprising the Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] Intellectual Property, whether existing now or in the future, the following sole and exclusive right and license to the Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] Intellectual Property during the Term, solely for the Licensed Purpose, to: (i) make, use, reproduce, copy, modify, translate, integrate into or extract from a database and create derivative works of Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] Intellectual Property; (ii) publicly perform or display, import, broadcast, transmit, distribute and communicate to the public by any means whatsoever, including but not limited to wire or wireless transmission process, using broadcasting, satellite, cable or network, license, offer to sell, and sell, rent, lease or lend originals and copies of, and otherwise commercially or non-commercially exploit any Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] Intellectual Property (and derivative works thereof); and (iii) sublicense to Affiliates or third parties the foregoing rights, including the right to sublicense to further third parties. ”
Article 2
Internt dokument från Amazon: Licensavtalet, punkt 2.5 (License Fee) och Exhibit A.
Luxembourg shall recover the incompatible and unlawful aid referred to in Article 1 from Amazon EU S.á r.l.
Dessa immateriella tillgångar betecknas Derivative Works (derivatverk) i licensavtalet; enligt punkt 1.3 i det avtalet avses med denna term alla nya verk som skapas av AEU [LuxOpCo] eller för [denna part] med utgångspunkt från befintligt material som ingår i immateriell egendom tillhörande Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] [inbegripet immateriella tillgångar] eller är resultatet av tillgång till eller användning av denna egendom (”any and all new works created by or for AEU [LuxOpCo] from pre-existing material contained within, or as a result of access to or use of the Amazon EHT [Lux SCS] Intellectual Property [including the Intangibles][…].”).
Any sums that remain unrecoverable from Amazon EU S.á r.l., following the recovery described in the preceding paragraph, shall be recovered from the Amazon group.
Internt dokument från Amazon: Licensavtalet, punkt 2.1 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 2.1(a).”
The sums to be recovered shall bear interest from the date on which they were put at the disposal of the beneficiaries until their actual recovery.
Licensavtalet, punkt 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.
The interest shall be calculated on a compound basis in accordance with Chapter V of Regulation (EC) No 794/2004.
AEU [LuxOpCo] agrees to promptly inform Amazon EHT [LuxSCS] of any such unauthorised use that comes to the AEU [LuxOpCo]'s attention.
Article 3
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.”
Article 4
Licensavtalet, punkt 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.
Within two months following notification of this decision, Luxembourg shall submit information regarding the methodology used to calculate the exact amount of aid.
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. ”
Luxembourg shall keep the Commission informed of the progress of the national measures taken to implement this Decision until recovery of the aid granted referred to in Article 1 has been completed.
Kallat Third Party Materials.