Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 9 October 2014 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato — Italy) — Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze, Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato (AAMS) v Yesmoke Tobacco SpA

(Case C-428/13) (1)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Tax provisions - Harmonisation of laws - Directives 95/59/EC and 2011/64/EU - Structure and rates of excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco - Establishment of an excise duty - Principle establishing one rate of excise duty for all cigarettes - Possibility for the Member States of establishing a minimum amount of excise duty - Cigarettes in the lowest price category - National legislation - Specific category of cigarettes - Excise duty set at 115 %))

(2014/C 439/12)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Consiglio di Stato

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellants: Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze, Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato (AAMS)

Respondent: Yesmoke Tobacco SpA

Operative part of the judgment

Articles 7(2) and 8(6) of Council Directive 2011/64/EU of 21 June 2011 on the structure and rates of excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco must be interpreted as precluding a provision of national law, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which, rather than establishing an identical minimum excise duty that is applicable to all cigarettes, establishes a minimum excise duty that is applicable only to cigarettes with a retail selling price lower than that of cigarettes in the most popular price category.

(1)  OJ C 313, 26.10.2013.