Brussels, 21/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 21 December the Commission decided to take Finland to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and to send it and Denmark reasoned opinions due to their rules on car registration taxes.
Finland. Finland will have to explain to the Court why it has not completely amended its national legislation following a previous ruling (the “Siilin” C-101/00 case). Finnish rules used for calculating the tax on second hand imported vehicles are discriminatory, owing to rules used for second hand Finnish vehicles. According to the jurisprudence of the Court, Member States have to ensure that the tax imposed on imported vehicles is not higher than that incorporated into the value of the vehicles of the same kind already registered on their territory. Neither does Finnish legislation comply with the “VAT” directive, which does not allow VAT taxable persons to deduct the tax levied on registration (VAT). Finland will receive a reasoned opinion because people residing there for a limited period cannot benefit from the exoneration of the registration tax as stipulated in 83//182/EEC.
Denmark. The Commission considers Danish rules on calculating registration tax on company vehicles made available to Danish residents by an employer established in another Member State, and leased cars in another Member State by a Danish resident, as incompatible with European jurisprudence (Cura Anlagen affair, C-451/99). It has decided to send Denmark a reasoned opinion. (mb)