News

29.05.2025

Tax & Financial Standards New Judgments of the ECJ For May 2025

May

Joined Cases С-6/24 and C-231/24 of 8 May 2025
Consumer credit agreements – Unfair terms in consumer contracts – Acceleration clause – Judicial review – No national legislation governing the acceleration clause – Criteria for assessing unfairness
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Consumer protection. For the purpose of assessing whether an acceleration clause contained in a personal loan agreement is unfair, account may be taken of the fact that that clause allows the consumer to avoid the accelerated repayment of the loan or to remedy the effects thereof, without it being necessary for that possibility to be provided for by a rule of national law.
Proceedings concerning an acceleration clause that is contained in personal loan agreements concluded between parties and is alleged to be unfair.

С-405/24 of 8 May 2025
Common system of value added tax — Exemptions on importation — Small consignments of goods of a non-commercial character from third countries — Consignee residing in a Member State other than the Member State of importation
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Exemption from taxes of imports of small consignments of goods. Legislation of a Member State which excludes from the exemption from VAT small consignments of a non-commercial character sent from a third country by private persons to private persons residing in another Member State.
Proceedings, concerning the legality of a tax ruling.

С-581/23 of 8 May 2025
Competition –– Prohibition – Vertical agreements – Block exemption – Hardcore restriction that removes the benefit of that exemption - Exclusive distribution agreements – Restriction of active sales in an exclusive territory – Concept of ‘agreement’ – Concurrence of wills between the supplier and its buyers – Exclusive territory allocated to a buyer – Absence of active sales by other buyers in that territory – Concept of ‘agreement’
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Agreements, decisions and concerted practices. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices. Prohibition of active sales in the exclusively allocated territory. Parallel imposition requirement. Proof of a concurrence of wills between the supplier and its buyers. Where a supplier has allocated an exclusive territory to one of its buyers, the mere finding that the other buyers of that supplier do not engage in active sales in that territory is not sufficient to establish the existence of an agreement concerning the ban on active sales.
Concept of ‘agreement’.
Proceedings concerning the breach of the exclusive distribution.

С-615/23 of 8 May 2025
Common system of value added tax (VAT) — Taxable amount — Consideration — Subsidies directly linked to the price of a taxable transaction — Collective public transport services — Compensation paid by a local authority to the service provider to cover the costs incurred — Direct link between the compensation and the services provided — Concept of „subsidies directly linked to the price“
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
VAT on the provision of subsidisation of a taxable person by a local authority acting in the public interest. Subsidised service provided by a third party in the public interest. Legal relationship and direct link between the supply of services and the consideration. The flat-rate compensation paid by a local authority to an undertaking providing collective public transport services and intended to cover losses incurred in connection with the supply of those services is not included in the taxable amount.
Concept of „subsidies directly linked to the price“.
Proceedings concerning the taxable amount for value added tax purposes in relation to the supply of the collective public transport services.

April

С-181/23 of 29 April 2025
Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Principle of sincere cooperation — Principle of mutual trust between the Member States — Grant of the nationality of a Member State — Operation of an investor citizenship scheme — aturalisation in exchange for predetermined payments or investments – Transactional nature of the naturalisation scheme, which amounts to the ‘commercialisation’ of Union citizenship
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Naturalisation of third-country nationals in exchange for pre-determined payments or investments. Absence of a genuine link between applicants for naturalisation and a Member State. Investor citizenship scheme, which establishes a transactional naturalisation procedure in exchange for predetermined payments or investments and thus amounts to the commercialisation of the grant of the nationality of a Member State and, by extension, that of Union citizenship.
Proceedings regarding a failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations under Article 20 TFEU and Article 4(3) TEU.
С-453/23 of 29 April 2025

Aid granted by a Member State - Selectivity of a tax measure - Property tax – Exemption for land, buildings and structures forming part of railway infrastructure - Concept of ‘State aid’
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Distortion of competition. Statutory tax exemption as part of the reference system. A piece of Member State legislation which exempts from property tax the land, buildings and structures forming part of railway infrastructure where that infrastructure is made available to rail carriers does not appear to be a measure which confers a selective advantage on the beneficiaries of that exemption.
Concept of ‘State aid’.
Proceedings concerning the refusal of a Mayor to grant a tax exemption in relation to property tax.

С-278/24 of 30 April 2025
Measures to ensure the correct collection of VAT – National legislation providing for the joint and several liability of the former chair of the board of directors of the taxable person – Exemption from joint and several liability – Absence of fault – Application for a declaration of insolvency – Existence of only one creditor – Proportionality – Equal treatment – Right to property – Legal certainty
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
VAT debt of a taxable person. The right to property and the principles of equal treatment, proportionality and legal certainty, must be interpreted as not precluding a national system under which:
– a member of the board of directors of a company with a value added tax debt is held jointly and severally liable with that company for tax arrears arising during his or her term of office,
– that liability is limited to tax arrears, enforcement of which against that company has proved unsuccessful in whole or in part,
– exemption from that liability depends, in particular, on proof adduced by the member of the board of directors that an application for a declaration of insolvency in respect of that company has been filed in due time or that the failure to file that application is not due to fault on his or her part, in so far as that member or former member, in order to demonstrate that there was no such fault, may validly claim that he or she exercised all due diligence in the conduct of the affairs of the company concerned.
Proceedings concerning the incurrence by P. of joint and several liability for the value added tax debt of a company whose board of directors had been chaired by P.

Joined Cases С-313/23, С-316/23 and C-332/23 of 30 April 2025
Judicial independence — Effective legal protection in the fields covered by Union law — Judicial body competent to propose the initiation of disciplinary proceedings against judges, public prosecutors and investigating magistrates, with a view to the imposition of disciplinary penalties — Members of the judicial body remaining in office after the expiry of their term of office — Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data — Access by a judicial body to data relating to the bank accounts of judges and public prosecutors and of their family members — Judicial authorisation for the purpose of lifting banking secrecy — Court authorising the lifting of banking secrecy — Concept of ‘controller’
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
A national legislation which allows members of a judicial inspection body with competence in disciplinary proceedings involving judges and public prosecutors de facto to remain in post indefinitely after the statutory duration of their term of office has expired. The principle of judicial independence precludes a Member State’s practice, under which the members of a judicial body who are elected by its parliament for terms of office of a specific duration and are competent to scrutinise the activity of judges, continue to perform their functions beyond the legal duration of their terms of office, where the extension of the expired terms of office does not have an express legal basis. A court having jurisdiction to authorise, at a request disclosure by a bank data relating to bank accounts cannot be classified as a controller. A court having jurisdiction to authorise disclosure of personal data to another judicial body does not constitute a supervisory authority.
Concept of ‘controller’.
Proceedings brought by the Inspectorate at the Supreme Judicial Council, seeking an order for data relating to the bank accounts of several judges and public prosecutors as well as of their family members to be disclosed to the Inspectorate.

С-370/24 of 30 April 2025
Insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles – Compensation scheme – Road traffic accident involving a stolen vehicle – Burden of proof in relation to the injured party’s knowledge of the theft of that vehicle – National legislation interpreted in such a way as to place the burden of proof on the injured party – Obligation to interpret national law in conformity with EU law
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Approximation of the laws of Member States relating to insurance against civil liability. Body responsible for compensation. It is for the body to prove, in order to discharge itself from its obligation to pay compensation, that, in the event of a road traffic accident, the injured party who voluntarily entered the vehicle which caused the damage or injury knew that it was stolen. National case-law which interprets national legislation as meaning that it is for that person to prove that he or she did not know that that vehicle had been stolen in order to obtain compensation for the harm he or she suffered.
Proceedings between, on the one hand, AT, a natural person injured in a road traffic accident, and the undertaking designated by Guarantee Fund for Road Accident Victims; ‘the FGVS’, concerning compensation for the harm suffered by AT as a result of that accident.

С-429/24 of 30 April 2025
Consumer protection - Enrolment contracts for the schooling of children of compulsory school age – Private education – Inertia selling of services – Compulsory subjects in accordance with national education standards - Concepts of ‘consumer’, ‘service contract’ and „inertia selling“
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
An enrolment contract for the schooling of children of compulsory school age, concluded between a parent and a private educational establishment registered as a commercial entity, in return for payment of school fees by that parent, is covered by the concept of a ‘service contract’. A parent who alone has concluded an enrolment contract with a private educational establishment for the schooling of his or her children of compulsory school age is covered by the concept of ‘consumer’ within the meaning of that provision.
Concepts of ‘consumer’, ‘service contract’ and „inertia selling“.
Proceedings between a private educational establishment, and a natural person QX, concerning the payment by QX of a contractual penalty resulting from the unilateral termination of enrolment contracts which she had concluded with that establishment for the schooling of her children of compulsory school age.

С-602/23 of 30 April 2025
Free movement of capital — Restrictions — Tax on income from capital — Undertaking for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) — National legislation providing that UCITS do not have legal personality — Tax transparency of UCITS — Tax treatment of foreign undertakings that are comparable to UCITS but that have legal personality — Whether a cross-border situation is comparable to a domestic situation — Concept of „restrictions on the movement of capital“
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Рestrictions on the movement of capital between Member States and third countries. Аvoidance of double taxation. А national legislation, which has the effect of precluding a refund of tax on income from capital to a non-resident entity which, on the one hand, has the same characteristics as a UCITS, but on the other hand, has legal personality and is, in that regard, comparable to a resident legal person, does not constitute a restriction on the free movement of capital.
Concept of „restrictions on the movement of capital “
Аn appeal on a point of law (Revision) for a refund of tax levied on income from capital.

С-630/23 of 30 April 2025
Consumer protection — Leasing agreement denominated in a foreign currency — Unfair term placing the exchange rate risk on the consumer — Effects of a finding that the term is unfair — Invalidity of the contract — Effects of the annulment of the contract in its entirety
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
A leasing agreement that is denominated in a foreign currency, and that has been rendered invalid following the removal from it of a term considered unfair that places the exchange rate risk associated with that foreign currency on the consumer concerned, is capable of ‘continuing in existence without the unfair terms’, where that agreement is covered by national legislation that requires, as a legal consequence of the invalidity of such an agreement, that the consumer be freed entirely from the detrimental effects of the unfair term only, while the other elements of that agreement remain valid and binding.
Proceedings, concerning the legal consequences of the removal of a term relating to exchange rate risk in a leasing agreement denominated in a foreign currency.