Request for a preliminary ruling from the Administrativen sad Burgas (Bulgaria) lodged on 1 December 2023 – ‘Beach and bar management’ EOOD v Nachalnik na otdel ‘Operativni deynosti’ Burgas

(Case C-733/23, Beach and bar management)

Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Administrativen sad Burgas (Bulgaria)

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellant in cassation: ‘Beach and bar management’ EOOD

Respondent in cassation: Nachalnik na otdel ‘Operativni deynosti’ Burgas

Questions referred

Are Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Article 273 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC ¹ of 28 November on the common system of value added tax and Article 50 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to be interpreted as permitting national legislation under which a single overall measure of ‘sealing business premises and prohibiting access thereto’ may be imposed in respect of multiple failures to fulfil tax obligations, where that measure is aimed exclusively at limiting the adverse effects of the offence, including the extent of the damage to the financial interests of the European Union, but not at punishing the offender, without that measure limiting the possibility of pursuing against that offender, in respect of each of those failures to fulfil tax obligations, independent proceedings of a punitive nature imposing on the taxable person a measure in the form of a financial penalty, it being the duty of the national court to examine and determine in each individual case which of the two objectives is pursued by the coercive administrative measure of ‘sealing business premises and prohibiting access thereto’ imposed at an earlier stage: prevention and restriction or punishment?

Are Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Article 273 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax and Article 49(3) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to be interpreted as precluding a regime of penalties such as those at issue in the main proceedings, which, irrespective of the nature and seriousness of the offences, provides for a significant lower limit for the penalty in the form of a financial penalty, without providing for the possibility of imposing a penalty below the minimum amount laid down in the law or of replacing that penalty with a more lenient one?

Are Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Article 273 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax and the first paragraph of Article 47, Article 48(1) and Article 49(3) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to be interpreted as precluding national legislation which allows, in respect of multiple failures to fulfil tax obligations, the imposition of a single overall measure of ‘sealing business premises and prohibiting access thereto’ and – before that measure becomes final – its provisional enforcement, without giving the court and the offender itself the opportunity to review the proportionality of that measure in relation to the seriousness of each individual administrative offence?

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¹ OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1.