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02.02.2026

Tax & Financial Standards New Judgments of the ECJ For January 2026

Tax & Financial Standards New Judgments of the ECJ For January 2026

January

С-77/24 of 15 January 2026

Judicial cooperation in civil matters — Law applicable to non-contractual obligations — Liability in tort or delict of an officer of a company that organises online games of chance without holding the required licence — Action for the recovery of gambling losses — The concept ‘place where the harmful event occurred or may occur’

Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:

Civil liability claim brought by a consumer habitually resident in a Member State against directors of an online gambling company registered in another Member State Breach of a duty or prohibition imposed erga omnes. An action seeking to establish tortious liability, aimed at the directors of a company, for infringement of a prohibition imposed by national legislation on offering games of chance to the public without holding a licence for that purpose is not covered by the category of non-contractual obligations.
Proceedings concerning the recovery of losses incurred in connection with participation in online games of chance that company offered in Austria without holding the licence required under the law of that Member State.

С-18/24 of 22 January 2026

Freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services — Single insurance market — Principle of supervision by the home Member State — Competencies of the supervisory authorities of the host Member State — Cooperation with the authorities of the home Member State — Insurance undertaking not complying with the legal provisions applicable in the host Member State — Insurance distribution — Powers of the supervisory authorities of the host Member State to penalise the undertaking concerned — Concept of ‘legal provisions [of] the host Member State’

Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:

Infringement of the laws of the host Member State by an insurance undertaking with its head office in another Member State. Competencies of the supervisory authority of the host Member State. The procedure for cooperation between the supervisory authority of the host Member State and the supervisory authority of the home Member State applies to a situation in which the supervisory authority of the host Member State finds that an insurance undertaking operating in its territory is not complying with its obligations. Concept of ‘legal provisions [of] the host Member State’.
Proceedings between N, a life insurance undertaking established in Slovakia, and the Czech insurance supervisory authority, concerning an administrative fine imposed by that authority on N on account of its failure to fulfil a number of obligations incumbent on it as an insurance undertaking with a branch in Czech territory.

Joined Cases С-379/24 and C-380/24 of 22 January 2026

Common system of value added tax — Supply of services by independent groups of persons, who are carrying on an activity which is exempt from VAT — Services directly necessary for the exercise of the exempt activity — Risk of distortion of competition — Cleaning services in the healthcare and education sectors — National legislation requiring that the services be directly and exclusively linked to the exempt activity and necessary for the exercise of that activity

Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:

National legislation under which the supply of services by an independent group of persons cannot be classified as ‘directly necessary’ services, where those services are necessary for the activity which is exempt from VAT. Exemption for services which may not be essential but are useful for the exempt activity of the members. Exemption for ‘cost-sharing groups’. Existence of a distortion of competition by the grant of a tax exemption provided for by European Union law.
The requests have been made in two separate sets of proceedings against the decisions to recover value added tax.

С-453/24 of 22 January 2026

Mutual recognition of financial penalties — Ground for non-recognition and non-execution — Informing the person concerned of his or her right to contest the case and of the time limits of such a legal remedy — Obligation to consult the competent authority of the issuing Member State

Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:

Judicial cooperation in criminal matters. The competent authority of the executing State is required, in the event of doubt as to whether the information was effectively given to the person concerned regarding his or her right to contest the decision imposing on him or her that penalty and on the time limit for doing so, to verify with the competent authority of the issuing State whether it is still possible to contest that decision.
Proceedings instituted by the BHM, administrative authority, in order to obtain the recognition and execution, in Bulgaria, of a financial penalty imposed on BC, a Bulgarian national, for failure to pay a motorway toll in Austria.