Case C‑349/13

Minister Finansów

v

Oil Trading Poland sp. z o.o.

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny)

‛Reference for a preliminary ruling — Excise duties — Directives 92/12/EEC and 2008/118/EC — Scope — Mineral oils and energy products — Lubricating oils used for purposes other than as motor fuels or as heating fuels — Not included — Excise duty levied on the consumption of energy products, imposed by a Member State in accordance with the harmonised excise duty arrangements — Concept of ‘formalities connected with the crossing of frontiers’ — Article 110 TFEU — Shorter payment deadline in certain cases for intra-Community purchases than for products acquired on the domestic market’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber), 12 February 2015

1. Tax provisions — Harmonisation of laws — Excise duties — Directives 92/12 and 2008/118 — Scope — Lubricating oils used for purposes other than as motor fuels or as heating fuels — Not included — Tax on consumption in accordance with the harmonised excise duty arrangements — Lawfulness — Condition — Absence of formalities connected with the crossing of frontiers

   (Council Directives 92/12, Art. 3(3) and 2008/118, Art. 1(3) and 34(2), first para., (a))

2. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Identification of relevant points of EU law

   (Art. 267 TFEU)

3. Tax provisions — Internal taxation — Prohibition of discrimination between imported products and similar domestic products — Products imported under the excise duty suspension arrangement and products acquired on the domestic market — Possibility, solely for imported products, of using the duty-paid excise procedure with a shorter payment deadline — Lawfulness

   (Art. 110 TFEU)

1.  Article 3(3) of Directive 92/12 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products and Article 1(3) of Directive 2008/118 concerning the general arrangements for excise duty and repealing Directive 92/12 must be interpreted as not precluding products which do not fall within the scope of those directives, such as lubricating oils used for purposes other than as motor fuels or as heating fuels, from being made subject to a tax governed by rules identical to those relating to the harmonised excise duty arrangements set out in those directives, where the imposition of such a tax on those products does not, in trade between Member States, give rise to formalities connected with the crossing of frontiers.

   In that regard, the requirements relating to the domestic duty suspension arrangement applicable to those products, which apply both to the products imported from another Member State and to those acquired on the domestic market, cannot be regarded as formalities connected with the crossing of a frontier.

   Moreover, the obligations relating to the duty-paid excise procedure — namely a declaration of the planned intra-Community purchase and guaranteeing payment of the excise duty, in so far as they must be met before the products in question cross the border, where the guarantee of payment of the excise is connected with the event giving rise to the excise duty and where those formalities correspond to the requirements with which the persons liable for excise duty must comply in accordance with the first paragraph, point (a), of Article 34(2) of Directive 2008/118 — cannot be regarded as formalities connected with the crossing of frontiers. Similarly, the obligations of submitting a simplified declaration, calculating the excise duty and paying it within 10 days from when the tax obligation arose, and of maintaining records of intra-Community acquisitions of excise goods — which aim to ensure payment of the excise duty due — cannot be regarded as formalities connected with the crossing of frontiers.

   (see paras 38, 39-43, 52, operative part)

2.  See the text of the decision.

   (see para. 45)

3.  There is no difference in treatment to the detriment of imported lubricating oils, contrary to Article 110 TFEU, where, pursuant to national legislation which subjects lubricating oils not falling within the scope of Directive 92/12 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products, and of Directive 2008/118 concerning the general arrangements for excise duty and repealing Directive 92/12 to the payment of excise duty, the deadline for payment of the excise duty due for lubricating oils imported under the duty suspension arrangement, beginning from their placing into circulation on the national market, is the same as that which is laid down for lubricating oils acquired on that market.

   The fact that, solely for imported products, it is also possible to use the duty-paid excise procedure with a shorter payment deadline cannot alter the non-discriminatory nature of such legislation.

   (see paras 50, 51)

Case C‑349/13

Minister Finansów

v

Oil Trading Poland sp. z o.o.

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny)

‛Reference for a preliminary ruling — Excise duties — Directives 92/12/EEC and 2008/118/EC — Scope — Mineral oils and energy products — Lubricating oils used for purposes other than as motor fuels or as heating fuels — Not included — Excise duty levied on the consumption of energy products, imposed by a Member State in accordance with the harmonised excise duty arrangements — Concept of ‘formalities connected with the crossing of frontiers’ — Article 110 TFEU — Shorter payment deadline in certain cases for intra-Community purchases than for products acquired on the domestic market’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber), 12 February 2015

1. Tax provisions — Harmonisation of laws — Excise duties — Directives 92/12 and 2008/118 — Scope — Lubricating oils used for purposes other than as motor fuels or as heating fuels — Not included — Tax on consumption in accordance with the harmonised excise duty arrangements — Lawfulness — Condition — Absence of formalities connected with the crossing of frontiers

   (Council Directives 92/12, Art. 3(3) and 2008/118, Art. 1(3) and 34(2), first para., (a))

2. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Identification of relevant points of EU law

   (Art. 267 TFEU)

3. Tax provisions — Internal taxation — Prohibition of discrimination between imported products and similar domestic products — Products imported under the excise duty suspension arrangement and products acquired on the domestic market — Possibility, solely for imported products, of using the duty-paid excise procedure with a shorter payment deadline — Lawfulness

   (Art. 110 TFEU)

1.  Article 3(3) of Directive 92/12 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products and Article 1(3) of Directive 2008/118 concerning the general arrangements for excise duty and repealing Directive 92/12 must be interpreted as not precluding products which do not fall within the scope of those directives, such as lubricating oils used for purposes other than as motor fuels or as heating fuels, from being made subject to a tax governed by rules identical to those relating to the harmonised excise duty arrangements set out in those directives, where the imposition of such a tax on those products does not, in trade between Member States, give rise to formalities connected with the crossing of frontiers.

   In that regard, the requirements relating to the domestic duty suspension arrangement applicable to those products, which apply both to the products imported from another Member State and to those acquired on the domestic market, cannot be regarded as formalities connected with the crossing of a frontier.

   Moreover, the obligations relating to the duty-paid excise procedure — namely a declaration of the planned intra-Community purchase and guaranteeing payment of the excise duty, in so far as they must be met before the products in question cross the border, where the guarantee of payment of the excise is connected with the event giving rise to the excise duty and where those formalities correspond to the requirements with which the persons liable for excise duty must comply in accordance with the first paragraph, point (a), of Article 34(2) of Directive 2008/118 — cannot be regarded as formalities connected with the crossing of frontiers. Similarly, the obligations of submitting a simplified declaration, calculating the excise duty and paying it within 10 days from when the tax obligation arose, and of maintaining records of intra-Community acquisitions of excise goods — which aim to ensure payment of the excise duty due — cannot be regarded as formalities connected with the crossing of frontiers.

   (see paras 38, 39-43, 52, operative part)

2.  See the text of the decision.

   (see para. 45)

3.  There is no difference in treatment to the detriment of imported lubricating oils, contrary to Article 110 TFEU, where, pursuant to national legislation which subjects lubricating oils not falling within the scope of Directive 92/12 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products, and of Directive 2008/118 concerning the general arrangements for excise duty and repealing Directive 92/12 to the payment of excise duty, the deadline for payment of the excise duty due for lubricating oils imported under the duty suspension arrangement, beginning from their placing into circulation on the national market, is the same as that which is laid down for lubricating oils acquired on that market.

   The fact that, solely for imported products, it is also possible to use the duty-paid excise procedure with a shorter payment deadline cannot alter the non-discriminatory nature of such legislation.

   (see paras 50, 51)