Mihai Manea v Instituția Prefectului județul Brașov - Serviciul Public Comunitar Regim de Permise de Conducere și Inmatriculare a Vehiculelor.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Celex Number: 62014CJ0076
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:2015:216
• Docket Number: C-76/14
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)
• Procedure Type: Reference for a preliminary ruling
• Date: 14 April 2015

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Grand Chamber)

14 April 2015 ( *1 )

‛Reference for a preliminary ruling — Internal taxation — Article 110 TFEU — Tax levied by a Member State on motor vehicles at the time of their first registration or of the first transfer of the right of ownership — Neutrality as between second-hand motor vehicles imported from other Member States and similar motor vehicles available on the domestic market’

In Case C‑76/14,

REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Curtea de Apel Braşov (Romania), made by decision of 29 January 2014, received at the Court on 12 February 2014, in the proceedings

Mihai Manea

v

Instituția Prefectului județul Brașov — Serviciul public comunitar regim de permise de conducere și înmatriculare a vehiculelor,

THE COURT (Grand Chamber),

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

Advocate General: M. Szpunar,

Registrar: A. Calot Escobar,

having regard to the written procedure,

after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:

— Mr Manea, by R. Cătălin, avocat,

— the Romanian Government, by R.H. Radu, acting as Agent, and by V. Angelescu and D.M. Bulancea, acting as advisers,

— 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 10 February 2015,

gives the following

Judgment

1 This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 110 TFEU.

2 The request has been made in proceedings between Mr Manea and the Instituția Prefectului județul Brașov — Serviciul public comunitar regim de permise de conducere și înmatriculare a vehiculelor (the competent authority for the registration of vehicles in Brașov (Romania)) concerning a tax which Mr Manea was required to pay in order to register in Romania a second-hand motor vehicle imported from another Member State.

Legal context

EU law

3 The ‘European emissions standards’ reflect the acceptable limits for exhaust emissions of new motor vehicles sold in the Member States of the European Union. The first of those standards (commonly known as ‘Euro 1’) was introduced by Council Directive 91/441/EEC of 26 June 1991 amending Directive 70/220/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to measures to be taken against air pollution by emissions from motor vehicles (OJ 1991 L 242, p. 1), which entered into force on 1 January 1992. Since then, the rules in this area have become progressively stricter, with the aim of improving air quality in the European Union.

4 Directive 2007/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 September 2007 establishing a framework for the approval of motor vehicles and their trailers, and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles (Framework Directive) (OJ 2007 L 263, p. 1) distinguishes between Category M vehicles, comprising ‘Motor vehicles with at least four wheels designed and constructed for the carriage of passengers’, and Category N vehicles, which are ‘Motor vehicles with at least four wheels designed and constructed for the carriage of goods’. Those categories are subdivided according to the number of seats and the maximum mass (Category M) or the maximum mass only (Category N).

Romanian law

5 Law No 343/2006 of 17 July 2006 amending and supplementing Law No 571/2003 on the Tax Code (Legea nr. 343/2006 pentru modificarea şi completarea Legii nr. 571/2003 privind Codul fiscal) (Monitorul Oficial al României, Part I, No 662 of 1 August 2006) introduced, into the Tax Code, a special tax on motor vehicles, applicable from 1 January 2007 and payable at the time of the first registration of that vehicle in Romania (‘the special tax’).

6 Government Emergency Order No 50/2008 of 21 April 2008 introducing the motor vehicle pollution tax (Ordonanță de Urgență a Guvernului nr. 50/2008 pentru instituirea taxei pe poluare pentru autovehicule) (Monitorul Oficial al României, Part I, No 327 of 25 April 2008; ‘OUG No 50/2008’), applicable from 1 July 2008, imposed a pollution tax on vehicles in categories M1 to M3 and N1 to N3. That tax was payable in particular at the time of the first registration of such a vehicle in Romania.

7 OUG No 50/2008 was amended several times, before being repealed by Law No 9/2012 of 6 January 2012 concerning the tax on pollutant emissions from motor vehicles (Legea nr. 9/2012 privind taxa pentru emisiili poluante provenite de la autovehicule) (Monitorul Oficial al României, Part I, No 17 of 10 January 2012; ‘Law No 9/2012’), which entered into force on 13 January 2012.

8 In the same way as OUG No 50/2008, Law No 9/2012 imposed a pollution tax on motor vehicles in categories M1 to M3 and N1 to N3.

9 Under Article 4(1) of Law No 9/2012, the obligation to pay that tax arose, inter alia, at the time of the first registration of a motor vehicle in Romania.

10 Under Article 4(2) of that law, the obligation to pay that tax also arose, in certain conditions, at the time of the first transfer, in Romania, of ownership of a second-hand motor vehicle. That provision was worded as follows: ‘Liability to pay the tax shall also arise at the time of the first transfer in Romania of ownership of a second-hand motor vehicle in respect of which neither the special tax on passenger vehicles and motor vehicles provided for in Law No 571/2003, as subsequently amended and supplemented, nor the tax on pollutant emissions from motor vehicles has been paid, and which does not come within the category of vehicles exempted or exonerated from payment of those taxes, under the law in force at the time of its registration.’

11 The concept of the ‘first transfer of ownership’ referred, as stated in Article 2(i) of Law No 9/2012, to the ‘the first transfer of the ownership of a second-hand vehicle, after the entry into force of the present law’.

12 However, Government Emergency Order No 1/2012 of 30 January 2012 relating to the suspension of the application of certain provisions of Law No 9/2012 concerning the tax on pollutant emissions from motor vehicles and to the repayment of the tax paid pursuant to Article 4(2) of that law (Ordonanță de Urgență a Guvernului nr. 1/2012 pentru suspendarea aplicării unor dispoziții ale Legii nr. 9/2012 privind taxa pentru emisiile poluante provenite de la autovehicule, precum şi pentru restituirea taxei achitate in conformitate cu prevederile art. 4 alin. 2 din lege) (Monitorul Oficial al României, Part I, No 79 of 31 January 2012; ‘OUG No 1/2012’), which entered into force on 31 January 2012, suspended the application of Article 4(2) of Law No 9/2012 until 1 January 2013. OUG No 1/2012 also provided that taxpayers who had paid that tax in accordance with Article 4(2) during the period between the date of the entry into force of Law No 9/2012 and the date of the entry into force of OUG No 1/2012 were entitled to a refund thereof.

13 Article 6 of Law No 9/2012 provided: ‘1. The amount of the tax shall be calculated as follows on the basis of the factors laid down in Annexes 1 to 5: (a) for motor vehicles in category M1 and satisfying emissions standard Euro 3, Euro 4, Euro 5 or Euro 6: (1) For motor vehicles satisfying emissions standard Euro 5, Euro 4 or Euro 3, the tax shall be calculated on the basis of the vehicle’s emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), and the specific tax expressed in euro per gramme of CO2, referred to in Annex 1, together with the pollution class and the specific tax expressed in euro/cm3 referred to in Annex 2, less any reduction as shown in column 2 of Annex 4, in accordance with the following formula: Amount payable = [(A × B × 30%) + (C × D × 70%)] × (100 – E)%, where: A = combined CO2 emissions, expressed in grammes/km; B = the tax on pollutant emissions, expressed in euro per gramme of CO2, referred to in column 3 of Annex 1; C = engine size (cubic capacity); D = the tax on pollutant emissions according to engine size referred to in column 3 of Annex 2; E = the percentage reduction of the tax specified in column 2 of Annex 4; (2) For motor vehicles satisfying emissions standard Euro 6, the tax shall be calculated on the basis of the formula set out in point 1, from the time of the entry into force of standard Euro 6 for the registration, sale and entry into service of new vehicles …; (b) for motor vehicles within category M1 having a non-Euro pollution standard or pollution standard Euro 1 or Euro 2, and for which no combined value of CO2 emissions has been specified, in accordance with the following formula: Amount payable = C × D × (100 – E): 100; where: C = engine size (cubic capacity); D = the tax on pollutant emissions according to engine size referred to in column 3 of Annex 2; E = the percentage reduction of the tax specified in column 2 of Annex 4; … 3. The percentage reduction of the tax … shall be established by reference to the age of the motor vehicle. 4. On calculation of the tax, additional reductions of the percentage reduction specified in Annex 4 shall be granted by reference to the variation from the standard of the factors on the basis of which the fixed percentage was assessed, if the person who requests the registration or, as the case may be, the first transfer of the right of ownership of a second-hand motor vehicle...