The Court of Justice of the European Union annulled, on Thursday 4 June, a judgment of the EU General Court of April 2018 (Cases T-554 & 555/15) and a European Commission decision of July 2015 considering two Hungarian taxes incompatible with the internal market (Case C-456/18 P).
These two taxes were introduced in 2014. The first aimed to establish a 'health' contribution by tobacco companies by introducing a progressive levy rate on the annual turnover of companies deriving at least 50% of their income from the production of or trade in tobacco products.
The second tax also made a food chain inspection fee levied on the turnover of shops selling fast moving consumer goods progressive.
In the Commission's view, these two taxes resulted in different treatment of companies in a comparable situation and could be regarded as unlawful State Aid.
The Court favourably welcomed the Hungarian Government's argument that the General Court made a manifest error of assessment of the requirements for the statement of reasons for a suspension injunction. The Commission's decisions ordered the suspension of the application of the progressive rate of the two disputed taxes.
See the judgment: https://bit.ly/3gQNEqJ (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)