Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 26 September 2013 —
Commission v Portugal
(Case C‑450/11)
Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Taxation — VAT — Directive 2006/112/EC — Articles 306 to 310 — Special scheme for travel agents — Discrepancies between language versions — National legislation providing for the application of the special scheme to persons other than travellers — Concepts of ‘traveller’ and ‘customer’
1. EU Law — Interpretation — Texts in several languages — Differences between the various language versions — Taking into account of the general scheme and purpose of the legislation in question (see paras 47, 48)
2. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Special scheme for travel agencies — Aim — Customer-based approach — No failure to fulfil obligations — Traveller-based approach — Non-conformity with the special scheme for travel agents (Council Directives 77/388, Art. 26(2) to (4), and 2006/112, Arts 306 to 310) (see paras 50-52, 60)
3. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Special scheme for travel agencies — National legislation providing for the application of the special scheme to persons other than travellers — Travel agencies applying that scheme as intermediaries (Council Directive 2006/112, Art. 306(1), second para.) (see para. 59)
Re:
| Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Infringement of Articles 306 to 310 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1) — National legislation providing for the application of the special travel agency taxation scheme to transactions that travel agencies make in favour of recipients other than travellers. |
Operative part:
The Court:
2. | | Orders the European Commission to pay the costs incurred by the Portuguese Republic; |
3. | | Orders the Czech Republic, the Kingdom of Spain, the French Republic, the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Finland to bear their own costs. |