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28.10.2024

Tax & Financial Standards New Judgments of the ECJ For October 2024 October

Tax & Financial Standards New Judgments of the ECJ For October 2024

October

С-171/23 of 4 October 2024
Value added tax — VAT exemption scheme for small enterprises — Abusive practice by forming a new company
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
In the light of the principle of the prohibition of abusive practices, where it is established that the formation of a company constitutes an abusive practice intended to maintain the benefit of the VAT exemption scheme, in respect of an activity previously carried out, under that scheme, by another company, the VAT Directive requires that the company accordingly formed cannot benefit from that scheme.
Proceedings between a company and the Ministry of Finance concerning a decision by which the latter seeks the payment of an amount of value added tax (VAT) from that company.
С-175/23 of 4 October 2024
Own resources of the European Union — Protection of the financial interests of the European Union — Prejudice caused to the budget of the European Union by charging an unjustified item of expenditure — Determination of the applicable financial correction rate — Scale of flat-rate correction rates — Principle of proportionality — Concept of ‘irregularity’
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
National legislation under which any breach of the public procurement rules constitutes an ‘irregularity’, which automatically triggers the application of a financial correction. The principle of proportionality in view of the need to individualise each concrete and specific breach of a rule applicable in the field of public procurement. Concept of ‘irregularity’.
A dispute between a municipality and Head of the Managing Authority of the operational programme ‘Regions in Growth’ 2014-2020, concerning the latter’s decision imposing a financial correction on that municipality, due to a breach of the rules on selecting a tenderer when awarding a public contract.
С-200/23 of 4 October 2024
Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data –Publication in the commercial register of a company’s constitutive instrument containing personal data – Non-compulsory personal data – Lack of consent of the data subject – Right to erasure – Non-material damage - Concept of ‘recipient’, ‘controller’ and ‘personal data’
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Provisions on the disclosure of the instrument of articles and memorandum of association of companies, which are the subject of coordination at EU level. Right to the erasure of personal data. Disclosure, in the commercial register, of a company’s constitutive instrument subject to compulsory disclosure under that directive and containing personal data, other than the minimum personal data required, disclosure of which is not required. An opinion of the supervisory authority of a Member Stat is not sufficient to exempt from liability the authority responsible for maintaining the commercial register of that Member State which has the status of ‘controller’.
Concept of ‘recipient’, ‘controller’ and ‘personal data’.
Proceedings between the Registration Agency and OL concerning the Agency’s refusal to erase certain personal data relating to OL contained in a company’s constitutive instrument published in the commercial register.
С-475/23 of 4 October 2024
Right to deduct VAT – Acquisition of goods by a taxable person – Making available of those goods free of charge to a subcontractor for the purpose of carrying out works for the taxable person – Refusal of the deduction of the VAT relating to those goods
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
National practice whereby, where a taxable person has acquired goods which that taxable person then makes available free of charge to a subcontractor, in order for that subcontractor to carry out work for that taxable person, that taxable person is denied the deduction of the VAT. National practice whereby a taxable person is denied the deduction of input VAT on the ground that that taxable person has not kept separate accounts for its fixed establishment in the Member State in which the tax inspection is carried out.
Proceedings between V and the tax authority concerning the refusal by that tax authority to allow the deduction of input value added tax paid upon V’s acquisition of goods which were made available to a subcontractor free of charge for the purpose of carrying out works for V.
С-60/23 of 17 October 2024
VAT – Electric vehicle charging – Charging using devices provided by a company and allowing access to a network of charging points operated by different operators – Classification of the transaction for VAT purposes – Transfer made under commission contracts – Concept of ‘supply of goods’
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Interpretation of the VAT Directive when applied to the transactions that arise out of the use of the EV charging devices (such as a card or an application. The supply of electricity for the purposes of charging an electric vehicle at a charging point forming part of a public network of such points constitutes a supply of goods. Two separate supplies, namely a supply of electricity and a supply of services (the facilitation of access to the network of charging points).
Concept of ‘supply of goods’.
Proceedings concerning the validity of a tax ruling.
С-76/22 of 17 October 2024
Consumer protection – Credit agreements for consumers relating to residential immovable property – Early repayment – Consumer’s right to a reduction in the total cost of the credit – Costs that are dependent of the duration of the contract – Commission for granting the credit payable when concluding the contract – Methodology for calculating the reduction - Concept of ‘total cost of the credit to the consumer’
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Reduction of the total cost of the credit in favour of the consumer, following early repayment in relation. In the absence of information provided by the creditor enabling a national court to ascertain whether a commission charged when concluding a mortgage agreement falls within the category of costs that are independent of the duration of that agreement, that court must consider that such a commission is covered by the right to a reduction in the total cost of the credit. Methodology for calculating the amount of the reduction in the total cost of credit.
Concept of ‘total cost of the credit to the consumer’.
Proceedings concerning the scope of the reduction in the total cost of a residential mortgage loan following its early repayment.
С-409/23 of 17 October 2024
Consumer protection — Interest-free credit agreements without other charges or providing for negligible charges — Deferred payment service ‘Buy now, pay later’ — Late payment — Default interest and out-of-court collection costs — Concepts of „interest“ and „other charges“
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Credit agreements for consumers. Exceptions. Deferred payment service. Default interest and the out-of-court collection costs, which a consumer is liable to pay in the event of late payment or non-performance of his or her payment obligation under a credit agreement, do not fall within the concepts of ‘interest’ and ‘other charges’, within the meaning of Article 2(2)(f) of Directive 2008/48.
Proceedings between a provider of a deferred payment service, and a consumer who opted for that service during an online purchase.
С-347/23 of 24 October 2024
Consumer protection — Unfair terms in consumer contracts — Mortgage loan agreement indexed to a foreign currency — Natural person who has acquired a residential property to be leased for consideration — Definition of ‘consumer’
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
A mortgage loan agreement in order to raise funds to purchase a single property to be rented for [consideration] (buy-to-let). A natural person who enters into a mortgage loan agreement in order to finance the purchase of a residential property to be leased for consideration comes under the concept of ‘consumer’, where that natural person acts for purposes that are outside his or her trade, business or profession.
Proceedings concerning an application for reimbursement of monthly instalments paid under a mortgage loan agreement indexed to a foreign currency.
С-476/23 of 24 October 2024
Rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service - Postal services in the European Union - Right of appeal - Concept of ‘postal service provider affected by a decision of a national regulatory authority’
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
National legislation under which a postal service provider competing with the universal postal service provider cannot challenge before an independent body a decision to which it is not an addressee, by which the latter calculates the amount of the net costs incurred by the universal postal service provider and finds that those costs constitute an unfair financial burden.
Concept of ‘postal service provider affected by a decision of a national regulatory authority’.
Proceedings concerning the latter’s decision determining the total net costs of the provision of the universal postal service by Balgarski Poshti (‘BP’) and finding that those costs constituted an unfair financial burden on BP.
С-513/23 of 24 October 2024
Procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts — Public works contracts — Technical specifications — Words ‘or equivalent’ — Reference to technical standards
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
National legislation which requires contracting authorities to add the words ‘or equivalent’ in all cases where technical specifications contained in procurement documents are formulated by reference to national standards.
Proceedings between a Municipality and the Head of the Management Authority of the operational programme ‘Regions in Growth’ 2014-2020, concerning a decision by which it imposed on that municipality a financial correction of the expenditure eligible for financing a project concerning sustainable urban environment by that operational programme, on account of an alleged infringement of public procurement rules.

September

С-330/23 of 26 September 2024
Consumer protection — Indication of the prices of products — Price reduction announcements — Conditions — Obligation to determine the announced price reduction on the basis of the prior price
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Directive 98/6/EC on consumer protection in the indication of the prices of products offered to consumers, which requires that a price reduction of a product announced by a trader in the form of a percentage, or in the form of a promotional statement intended to highlight the advantageous nature of the announced price, must be determined on the basis of the ‘prior price’.
Proceedings, concerning indications of price reductions in advertisements relating to the sale of food items.