Joined Cases C‑217/15 and C‑350/15

Criminal proceedings

against

Massimo Orsi
and
Luciano Baldetti

(Request for a preliminary ruling
from the Tribunale di Santa Maria Capua Vetere)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Taxation — Value added tax — Directive 2006/112/EC — Articles 2 and 273 — National legislation providing for an administrative penalty and a criminal penalty for the same offences, relating to the non-payment of value added tax — Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Article 50 — Ne bis in idem principle — Identity of the accused or penalised person — Absence)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 5 April 2017

Fundamental rights — Ne bis in idem principle — Institution of criminal proceedings against a natural person following the imposition of a tax penalty in respect of the same facts on a company with legal personality — Infringement — Absence

(Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 50)

Article 50 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which permits criminal proceedings to be brought for non-payment of value added tax, after the imposition of a definitive tax penalty with respect to the same act or omission, where that penalty was imposed on a company with legal personality, while those criminal proceedings were brought against a natural person.

(see para. 27, operative part)