G. van de Water v Staatssecretaris van Financiën.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Date: 05 April 2001
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)

Avis juridique important

|

61999J0325

Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 5 April 2001. - G. van de Water v Staatssecretaris van Financiën. - Reference for a preliminary ruling: Hoge Raad der Nederlanden - Netherlands. - Tax provisions - Harmonisation of laws - Excise duties - Directive 92/12/EEC - Chargeability of duty - Release for consumption of products subject to excise duty - Notion - Mere holding of a product subject to excise duty. - Case C-325/99.

European Court reports 2001 Page I-02729

Summary
Parties
Grounds
Decision on costs
Operative part

Keywords

Tax provisions - Harmonisation of laws - Excise duty - Directive 92/12 - Chargeability of duty - Release for consumption of products subject to excise duty - Notion - Mere holding of a product subject to excise duty - Inclusion - Conditions

(Council Directive 92/12, Art. 6(1))

Summary

$$Article 6(1) of Directive 92/12 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products, as amended by Directive 94/74, must be interpreted as meaning that the mere holding of a product subject to excise duty within the meaning of Article 3(1) of that directive constitutes a release for consumption where that product is held outside a suspension arrangement and duty has not yet been levied on it pursuant to the applicable provisions of Community law and national legislation.

( see paras 36, 42 and operative part )

Parties

In Case C-325/99,

REFERENCE to the Court under Article 234 EC by the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden (Netherlands) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between

G. van de Water

and

Staatssecretaris van Financiën,

on the interpretation of Article 6(1) of Council Directive 92/12/EEC of 25 February 1992 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products (OJ 1992 L 76, p. 1), as amended by Council Directive 94/74/EC of 22 December 1994 (OJ 1994 L 365, p. 46),

THE COURT (Sixth Chamber),

composed of: C. Gulmann, President of the Chamber, J.-P. Puissochet, R. Schintgen, F. Macken (Rapporteur) and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, Judges,

Advocate General: D. Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer,

Registrar: R. Grass,

after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of:

- the Netherlands Government, by M.A. Fierstra, acting as Agent,

- the Commission of the European Communities, by E. Traversa and H.M.H. Speyart, acting as Agents,

having regard to the report of the Judge-Rapporteur,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 9 November 2000,

gives the following

Judgment

Grounds

1 By judgment of 24 August 1999, received at the Court on 31 August 1999, the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden (Supreme Court of the Netherlands) referred for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC a question concerning the interpretation of Article 6(1) of Council Directive 92/12/EEC of 25 February 1992 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products (OJ 1992 L 76, p. 1), as amended by Council Directive 94/74/EC of 22 December 1994 (OJ 1994 L 365, p. 46, hereinafter the Directive).

2 That question has arisen in proceedings between Mr Van de Water and the Staatssecretaris van Financiën (Netherlands Secretary of State for Finance) concerning an additional assessment to excise duty.

The Community legal framework

3 The Directive is designed to establish the rules governing the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and the holding, movement and monitoring of such products, which the Member States have been required to implement since 1 January 1993.

4 According to the fourth recital in the preamble to the Directive, in order to ensure the establishment and functioning of the internal market, the chargeability of excise duties should be identical in all the Member States.

5 The ninth recital in the preamble to the Directive states that, in order to ensure that the tax debt is eventually collected, it should be possible for checks to be carried out in production and storage facilities and that a system of warehouses, subject to authorisation by the competent authorities, should make it possible to carry out such checks.

6 Article 3(1) of the Directive provides:

This Directive shall apply at Community level to the following products as defined in the relevant Directives:

...

- alcohol and alcoholic beverages,

...

7 According to Article 4(b) of the Directive, the term tax warehouse means a place where goods subject to excise duty are produced, processed, held...