Request for a preliminary ruling from the Commissione Tributaria Provinciale di Palermo (Italy) lodged on 3 August 2018 — Autoservizi Giordano società cooperativa v Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli ‒ Ufficio di Palermo

(Case C-513/18)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Commissione Tributaria Provinciale di Palermo

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Autoservizi Giordano società cooperativa

Defendant: Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli ‒ Ufficio di Palermo

Questions referred

Article 7 of Directive 2003/96/EC ¹ to be interpreted as including within its scope all undertakings and operators, whether public or private, in the sector for the conveyance of passengers by bus and coach, including by way of the hire of buses and coaches with a driver, and as precluding national legislation implementing the directive in so far as it does not treat operators which hire buses and coaches with a driver as operators using commercial gas oil?

Does the discretion which the Member States are allowed, as referred to in Article 7(2) of Directive 2003/96/EC (‘Member States may differentiate between commercial and non-commercial use of gas oil used as propellant, provided that the Community minimum levels are observed and the rate for commercial gas oil used as propellant does not fall below the national level of taxation in force on 1 January 2003’), render the provision which includes, within the definition of commercial gas oil, that used for ‘the carriage of passengers by occasional service’, not immediately effective and unconditional?

Is the content of Article 7 of the directive sufficiently precise and unconditional for individuals to be able to rely on it directly against the authorities of the Member State in question?

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¹ Council Directive 2003/96/EC of 27 October 2003 restructuring the Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity (OJ 2003 L 283, p. 51)