Dragoș Constantin Târșia v Statul român and Serviciul Public Comunitar Regim Permise de Conducere si Inmatriculare a Autovehiculelor.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Celex Number: 62014CJ0069
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:2015:662
• Date: 06 October 2015
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)
• Procedure Type: Reference for a preliminary ruling
• Docket Number: C-69/14

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Grand Chamber)

6 October 2015 ( * )

‛Reference for a preliminary ruling — Principles of equivalence and effectiveness — Res judicata — Recovery of undue payments — Recovery of taxes levied by a Member State in breach of EU law — Final decision of a court or tribunal imposing payment of a tax which is incompatible with EU law — Application for revision of such a decision — National legislation allowing the revision, in the light of later preliminary rulings given by the Court, of final decisions of a court or tribunal made exclusively in administrative proceedings’

In Case C‑69/14,

REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Tribunalul Sibiu (Regional Court, Sibiu, Romania), made by decision of 16 January 2014, received at the Court on 10 February 2014, in the proceedings

Dragoș Constantin Târșia

v

Statul român,

Serviciul public comunitar regim permise de conducere și înmatriculare a autovehiculelor,

THE COURT (Grand Chamber),

composed of V. Skouris, President, K. Lenaerts, Vice-President, M. Ilešič (Rapporteur), L. Bay Larsen, T. von Danwitz, A. Ó Caoimh and J.-C. Bonichot, Presidents of Chambers, A. Arabadjiev, C. Toader, M. Berger, A. Prechal, E. Jarašiūnas and C.G. Fernlund, Judges,

Advocate General: N. Jääskinen,

Registrar: L. Carrasco Marco, Administrator,

having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 27 January 2015,

after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:

— Mr Târșia, by himself,

— the Romanian Government, by R. Radu and V. Angelescu and by D. Bulancea, acting as Agents,

— the Polish Government, by B. Majczyna and by B. Czech and K. Pawłowska, acting as Agents,

— the European Commission, by R. Lyal and G.-D. Bălan, acting as Agents,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 23 April 2015,

gives the following

Judgment

1 This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 110 TFEU, Article 6 TEU, Articles 17, 20, 21 and 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and general principles of EU law.

2 The request has been made in proceedings between Mr Târşia and the Statul român (Romanian State), represented by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Ministerul Finanţelor şi Economiei), and the Serviciul public comunitar regim permise de conducere şi înmatriculare a autovehiculelor (Local administrative authorities concerned with driving licences and vehicle registrations) concerning an action for the revision of a final decision, made by a national court, obliging Mr Târşia to pay a tax subsequently found to be incompatible with EU law.

Romanian legal context

3 Article 21 of Law No 554/2004 of 2 December 2004 on administrative proceedings (Legea contenciosului administrativ nr. 554/2004) (Monitorul Oficial al României, Part I, No 1154 of 7 December 2004) (‘the law on administrative proceedings’), in the version in force when the application for revision was submitted, stated: ‘(1) The forms of action provided for by the Code of Civil Procedure can be exercised against irrevocable and definitive decisions made by organs of administrative proceedings. (2) In addition to those provided for by the Code of Civil Procedure, judgments that have become final and binding and that infringe the primacy of [EU] law laid down by Article 148(2) read in combination with Article 20(2) of the Romanian Constitution, as amended, shall constitute grounds for revision. The application for revision shall be lodged within 15 days of notification, by derogation from the rule set out in Article 17(3), by way of application, with detailed reasons, made by the interested parties within 15 days of the delivery of the judgment. The application for revision shall be examined as a matter of urgency and shall be given priority, within 60 days at most of being lodged.’

The dispute in the main proceedings and the question referred for a preliminary ruling

4 On 3 May 2007, Mr Târşia, a Romanian national, purchased a second-hand motor car in France. On 5 June 2007, in order to register that vehicle in Romania, he had to pay a sum of RON 6899.51 (around EUR 1560) in respect of the special tax on motor cars payable under Articles 214a and 214b of the Romanian Tax Code, in the version in force when the vehicle in question was registered.

5 Believing that tax to be incompatible with Article 110 TFEU, Mr Târşia initiated civil proceedings before the Judecătoria Sibiu (District Court, Sibiu) in order to secure the return of the amount of that tax. That court, ruling against the Romanian State by judgment of 13 December 2007, upheld that request, on the ground that the tax in question was contrary to Article 110 TFEU.

6 The Romanian State, represented by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, brought an appeal in cassation against that judgment. By Decision No 401/2008, the civil section of the Tribunalul Sibiu (Regional Court, Sibiu) limited the repayment of the special tax on motor cars paid by Mr Târşia to a sum equal to the difference between that tax and the later pollution tax payable by virtue of Government Emergency Order No 50/2008 of 21 April 2008 introducing a pollution tax for motor cars (Ordonanţă de urgenţă a Guvernului nr. 50/2008 pentru instituirea taxei pe poluare pentru autovehicule) (Monitorul Oficial al României, Part I, No 327 of 25 April 2008).

7 That decision was the subject of an action for revision brought before the Tribunalul Sibiu (‘the referring court’) by Mr Târşia on 29 September 2011. On the basis of Article 21(2) of the law on administrative proceedings, Mr Târşia requested that Decision No 401/2008 be annulled and that a new decision be made, on the ground that the Court of Justice had ruled, in its judgment in Tatu (C‑402/09, EU:C:2011:219), that Article 110 TFEU precludes the introduction of a tax such as the pollution tax imposed by Government Emergency Order No 50/2008. Consequently, Mr Târşia considers that the Romanian State’s appeal was allowed in breach of the principle of the primacy of EU law, and that the special tax on motor cars paid by him should be repaid to him in its entirety.

8 The referring court notes in that regard that the procedural rules applicable to civil proceedings do not offer any opportunity to bring an action for revision of a final judicial decision for a breach of EU law, although such an action may be brought pursuant to the procedural rules governing administrative proceedings.

9 In those circumstances, the Tribunalul Sibiu (Regional Court, Sibiu) decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following question to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling: ‘Can Articles 17, 20, 21 and 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Article 6 of the Treaty on the European Union, Article 110 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the principle of legal certainty laid down in EU law and in the case-law of the Court of Justice be interpreted as precluding a rule such as that found in Article 21(2) of [the law on administrative proceedings] which allows for revision of decisions of a national court or tribunal when there is an infringement of the principle of the primacy of [European Union] law exclusively in administrative proceedings and which does not allow for revision of national decisions of a court or tribunal delivered in proceedings other than administrative proceedings (civil or criminal proceedings) when there is an infringement of the same principle of primacy of [European Union] law at issue in those decisions?’

Consideration of the question referred

Admissibility of the request for a preliminary ruling

10 The Romanian Government contends that the present request for a preliminary ruling is not admissible. In that regard, that government maintains, first, that the legal relationship between Mr Târşia and the Romanian State falls within the area of tax law. Consequently, the procedural law applicable to Mr Târşia’s application would be procedural tax law, which falls under the law relating to administrative proceedings. In those circumstances, even though the action for revision of Decision No 401/2008 has been brought before the formation of the referring court which has jurisdiction in civil matters, that formation also having made the decision in question, the referring court would be required to apply the procedural law relating to administrative proceedings, including the provisions of that procedural law which concern the grounds for bringing an action for revision referred to in Article 21(2) of the law on administrative proceedings.

11 Secondly, the Romanian Government contends that Mr Târşia could have brought an extraordinary action for annulment of that decision. That remedy would have allowed the case under consideration to be referred to the formation responsible for administrative proceedings, which could have applied Article 21(2) of the law on administrative proceedings. As the Romanian legal system guarantees an effective remedy ensuring Mr Târşia’s situation is compatible with EU law, an answer to the question referred would not be useful for the resolution of the dispute pending before the referring court.

12 In that regard, it should be noted that, according to settled case-law, questions on the interpretation of EU law referred by a national court in the factual and legislative context which that court is responsible for defining, and the accuracy of which is not a matter for the Court to determine, enjoy a presumption of relevance (judgments in Fish Legal and...