Joined Cases C‑606/12 and C‑607/12

Dresser-Rand SA

v

Agenzia delle Entrate, Direzione Provinciale, Ufficio Controlli di Genova

(Requests for a preliminary ruling from the Commissione tributaria provinciale di Genova)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Taxation — VAT — Directive 2006/112/EC — Article 17(2)(f) — Condition relating to the return of goods to the Member State from which they were initially dispatched or transported)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber), 6 March 2014

1.        Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Supply of goods — Transfer to another Member State — Exclusion of a transfer constituted by dispatch or transport of goods between two Member States — Condition — Necessary return of the goods to the taxable person in the Member State of origin

(Council Directive 2006/112, Art. 17(2)(f))

2.        Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — Request for an interpretation of the provisions of EU law which are manifestly inapplicable in the dispute in the main proceedings — Inapplicability of Article 17(2)(f) of Directive 2006/112 in the event that the goods are not returned to the Member State of origin

(Art. 267 TFEU; Council Directive 2006/112, Art. 17(2)(f))

1.        Article 17(2)(f) of Directive 2006/112 on the common system of value added tax must be interpreted as meaning that, in order for the dispatch or transport of goods not to be classified as a transfer to another Member State, those goods, after the work on them has been carried out in the Member State in which dispatch or transport of the goods ends, must necessarily be returned to the taxable person in the Member State from which they were initially dispatched or transported.

It is only where the transfer of goods to another Member State is carried out not for the purpose of final consumption of the goods in that Member State, but for the purpose of the processing of those goods followed by their return to the Member State of origin, that such a transfer is not to be classified as an intra-Community supply.

Accordingly, the return of the goods to the taxable person in the Member State from which the goods were initially dispatched or transported must be considered a necessary condition for the application of Article 17(2)(f) of Directive 2006/112.

(see paras 30-32, operative part)

2.        See the text of the decision.

(see paras 33-38)