Request for a preliminary ruling from the Curtea de Apel București (Romania) lodged on 27 June 2023 – Brăila Winds SRL v Direcția Generală Regională a Finanțelor Publice București – Administrația Fiscală pentru Contribuabili Mijlocii București, Ministerul Finanțelor, Președintele Agenției Naționale de Administrare Fiscală, Agenția Națională de Administrare Fiscală
(Case C-391/23, Braila Winds)
Language of the case: Romanian
Referring court
Curtea de Apel București
Parties to the main proceedings
Appellant: Brăila Winds SRL
Respondents: Direcția Generală Regională a Finanțelor Publice București – Administrația Fiscală pentru Contribuabili Mijlocii București, Ministerul Finanțelor, Președintele Agenției Naționale de Administrare Fiscală, Agenția Națională de Administrare Fiscală
Questions referred
Must the provisions of Articles 107 and 108 TFEU be interpreted as meaning that national legislation such as that introduced by Legea nr. 259/2021 (Law No 259/2021), which imposes a tax only on certain producers of electricity, constitutes State aid granted to exempt persons, which is subject to notification requirements? Is that legislation discriminatory if it applies only to certain producers of electricity, including those producing electricity from renewable energy sources?
Must the provisions of Articles 49 and 56 TFEU and those of Article 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union be interpreted as precluding national legislation, such as that introduced by Law No 259/2021, which imposes a high amount of tax only on certain producers of electricity (including those producing electricity from renewable sources), to the exclusion of other categories of producer?
Prior to Regulation 2022/1854, 1 does Directive (EU) 2019/944 on common rules for the internal market for electricity and amending Directive 2012/27/EU 2 preclude national legislation which could result in the fixing of selling prices or a restriction on the freedom to set selling prices, such as the legislation introduced by Law No 259/2021?
Do the provisions of Article 191(2) TFEU concerning the precautionary principle and the principles that preventive action should be taken, that pollution should be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay preclude national legislation such as that introduced by Law No 259/2021? Does that undermine the European objectives of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and the European Union’s policy on energy taxation?
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1 Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1854 of 6 October 2022 on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices (OJ 2022 L 261, p.1).
1 Directive (EU) 2019/944 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on common rules for the internal market for electricity and amending Directive 2012/27/EU (OJ 2019 L 158, p.125).