Recheio - Cash & Carry SA v Fazenda Pública/Registo Nacional de Pessoas Colectivas, and Ministério Público.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Date: 17 June 2004
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)

Case C-30/02

Recheio – Cash & Carry SA

v

Fazenda Pública/Registo Nacional de Pessoas Colectivas

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Tributário de Primeira Instância de Lisboa)

(Recovery of sums paid though not due – Period of 90 days for the bringing of an action – Principle of effectiveness)

Summary of the Judgment

Community law – Direct effect – National charges incompatible with Community law – Reimbursement – Procedures – Application of national law – Conditions – Observance of the principles of equivalence and effectiveness – Limitation period of 90 days – Permissible

Given the lack of Community rules on the refund of national charges levied though not due, it is for the domestic legal system of each Member State to designate the courts and tribunals having jurisdiction and to lay down the detailed procedural rules governing actions for safeguarding rights which individuals derive from Community law, provided, first, that such rules are not less favourable than those governing similar domestic actions (principle of equivalence) and, second, that they do not render virtually impossible or excessively difficult the exercise of rights conferred by Community law (principle of effectiveness).

In respect of the principle of effectiveness, it is compatible with Community law to lay down reasonable limitation periods in the interests of legal certainty, which protects both the taxpayer and the administration concerned. In that regard, a time-limit of 90 days for bringing national proceedings, which is reckoned from the end of the period allowed for voluntary payment of the charges, appears reasonable inasmuch as it represents a sufficient length of time to enable the taxpayer to take the decision to bring an action for annulment in full awareness of all the facts and for that purpose to gather all the matters of fact or law required.

Accordingly, with regard to a claim for repayment of charges levied in breach of Community law, the principle of effectiveness of Community law does not militate against the fixing of a limitation period of 90 days reckoned from the end of the period prescribed for voluntary payment of those charges.

(see paras 17-18, 21-22, 26, operative part)

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (First Chamber)
17 June 2004(1)

(Recovery of sums paid though not due – Period of 90 days for the bringing of an action – Principle of effectiveness)

In Case C-30/02 REFERENCE to the Court under Article 234 EC by the Tribunal Tributário de Primeira Instância de Lisboa (Portugal) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between Recheio – Cash & Carry SA

and

Fazenda Pública/Registo Nacional de Pessoas Colectivas, intervener:Ministério Público, on the interpretation of Community law concerning recovery of sums paid though not due,

THE COURT (First Chamber),,

composed of: P. Jann, President of the Chamber, A. La Pergola, S. von Bahr (Rapporteur), R. Silva de Lapuerta and K. Lenaerts, Judges, Advocate General: D. Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer,
Registrar: M. Múgica Arzamendi, Principal Administrator,

after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of:

–

Recheio – Cash & Carry SA, by C. Teixeira Osório de Castro and J. Vieira Peres, advogados,

–

the Portuguese Government, by L. Fernandes and A.I. Pinto, acting as Agents,

–

the Commission of the European Communities, by A. Alves Vieira and R. Lyal, acting as Agents, and by N. Castro Marques, advogado,

after hearing the oral observations of Recheio – Cash & Carry SA, represented by J. Vieira Peres, and by P. Sousa Machado and M. Fontaine de Campos, advogados, of the Portuguese Government, represented by L. Fernandes and by C. Baptista Lobo, advogado, and of the Commission, represented by A. Alves Vieira and R. Lyal, at the hearing on 13 November 2003,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 11 December 2003,

gives the following

Judgment

1

By order of 27 December 2001, received at the Court on 4 February 2002, the Tribunal Tributário de Primeira Instância de Lisboa (Fiscal Court of First Instance of Lisbon) referred to the Court for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC three questions on the interpretation of Community law concerning recovery of sums paid though not due.

2

Those questions were raised in proceedings between Recheio – Cash & Carry SA (‘Recheio’) and the Fazenda Pública/Registo Nacional de Pessoas Colectivas (Exchequer/National Register of Legal Persons) concerning repayment of registration fees paid by Recheio pursuant to Article 3(4) of the Schedule of Fees of the National Register of Legal Persons, approved by Decree No 366/89 of 22 May 1989 (Diário da República I, series A, No 117, of 22 May 1989).

The...