Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Actions against Member States for failure to fulfil obligations ° Scope of the proceedings ° Determination during the pre-litigation procedure ° Subsequent enlargement ° Not permissible

(EEC Treaty, Art. 169)

2. Tax provisions ° Harmonization of laws ° Turnover taxes ° Common system of value added tax ° Prohibition on charging other national taxes in the nature of turnover taxes ° Labour market contribution introduced in Denmark ° Not permissible

(Council Directive 77/388, Art. 33)

Summary

1. The scope of an action brought under Article 169 of the Treaty is circumscribed both by the preliminary administrative procedure provided for by that article and by the form of order sought in the application. The Commission' s reasoned opinion and its application must be founded on the same grounds and pleas. In so far as a complaint was not raised in the pre-litigation procedure, it is not admissible.

2. A Member State, in this case Denmark, infringes Article 33 of the Sixth Directive (77/388), which prohibits the Member States from levying taxes, duties or charges in the nature of turnover taxes, and thereby fails to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty, in particular Article 189, if it introduces and maintains fiscal rules providing for the payment of a labour market contribution, which is a levy of a fiscal nature generally charged on the same basis of assessment as value added tax, but without complying with the Community rules applying to value added tax, in so far as the said contribution:

° is paid both on activities subject to value added tax and on other industrial or commercial activities which consist in the supply of services for consideration;

° is charged, in the case of undertakings which are taxable persons for value added tax purposes, on the same basis of assessment as that used for value added tax, in other words as a percentage of the volume of sales after deduction of purchases;

° unlike value added tax, is not paid on importation, but is charged on the full sale price of imported goods at the first sale in the Member State concerned;

° unlike value added tax, does not have to be indicated separately on invoices; and

° is charged alongside value added tax.