Brussels, 17/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - That a tax advisory company established in a member state does not conform to another member state's authorisation and qualification rules cannot prevent that company from providing its services in the other member state.
That is the ruling delivered by the Court of Justice of the EU (case C-342/14) on Thursday 17 December after the judges followed to the letter the opinion of Advocate General Pedro Cruz Villalon, put to the Court at the start of October (see EUROPE 11402).
This case posed the question of the extent to which German rules are compatible with EU law and the freedom to provide services (Article 56 TFEU). The German rules make the exercise of the activity of providing professional assistance in tax matters subject to a prior authorisation scheme, an authorisation which is itself subject to its managers having appropriate professional qualification.
The Court ruled that these rules restrict the freedom to provide services as they remove all possibility of a tax advisory company established in another member state providing its services in Germany. The Court points out that national authorities must ensure that qualifications obtained in another member state are “accorded their proper value and duly taken into account”. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)