Request for a preliminary ruling from the Finanzgericht Düsseldorf (Germany) lodged on 23 May 2022 – f6 Cigarettenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG v Hauptzollamt Bielefeld

(Case C-336/22)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Finanzgericht Düsseldorf

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: f6 Cigarettenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG

Defendant: Hauptzollamt Bielefeld

Questions referred

Must Article 1(2) of Council Directive 2008/118/EC ¹ of 16 December 2008 concerning the general arrangements for excise duty and repealing Directive 92/12/EEC (OJ 2009 L 9, p. 12), as amended by Council Directive (EU) 2019/475 ² of 18 February 2019 (OJ 2019 L 83, p. 42), be interpreted as precluding national legislation of a Member State on the levying of tobacco tax on heated tobacco which provides, with regard to the calculation of the tax, that, in addition to the tax rate for pipe tobacco, a supplementary tax which is 80 per cent of the tax amount for cigarettes less the tax amount for pipe tobacco is to be levied?

If the supplementary tax on heated tobacco is not another indirect tax on excise goods for specific purposes within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Directive 2008/118: Must Article 14(3) of Council Directive 2011/64/EU ¹ of 21 June 2011 on the structure and rates of excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco (OJ 2011 L 176, p. 24) be interpreted as precluding national legislation of a Member State on the levying of tobacco tax on heated tobacco which provides, with regard to the calculation of the tax, that, in addition to the tax rate for pipe tobacco, a supplementary tax which is 80 per cent of the tax amount for cigarettes less the tax amount for pipe tobacco is to be levied?

If the supplementary tax on heated tobacco is not another indirect tax on excise goods for specific purposes within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Directive 2008/118: Must point (b) of the first subparagraph of Article 14(1) and point (c) of the first subparagraph of Article 14(2) of Council Directive 2011/64/EU of 21 June 2011 on the structure and rates of excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco (OJ 2011 L 176, p. 24) be interpreted as precluding national legislation of a Member State on the levying of tobacco tax on heated tobacco which provides, with regard to the calculation of the tax, that that tax is to be determined according to an ad valorem tax rate and a specific tax rate based on the weight and given number of rolls of tobacco?

____________

¹     Council Directive 2008/118/EC of 16 December 2008 concerning the general arrangements for excise duty and repealing Directive 92/12/EEC (OJ 2009 L 9, p. 12).

¹     Council Directive (EU) 2019/475 of 18 February 2019 amending Directives 2006/112/EC and 2008/118/EC as regards the inclusion of the Italian municipality of Campione d'Italia and the Italian waters of Lake Lugano in the customs territory of the Union and in the territorial application of Directive 2008/118/EC (OJ 2019 L 83, p. 42).

¹     Council Directive 2011/64/EU of 21 June 2011 on the structure and rates of excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco (OJ 2011 L 176, p. 24).