19.3.2005

Official Journal of the European Union

C 69/6

Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden of 7 January 2005 in the case of Staatssecretaris van Financiën v B.F. Joustra

(Case C-5/05)

(2005/C 69/13)

Language of the case: Dutch

Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the European Communities by judgment of 7 January 2005 of the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden (Supreme Court of the Netherlands), which was received at the Court Registry on 10 January 2005, for a preliminary ruling in the case of Staatssecretaris van Financiën v B.F. Joustra on the following questions:

Must Article 8 of Council Directive 92/12/EEC (1) be construed as meaning that excise duty may not be levied other than in the Member State of acquisition in the case where an individual purchases goods subject to excise duty personally and for his own use in one Member State and has them transported by a transport undertaking to another Member State?

Must Article 8 of Council Directive 92/12/EEC be construed as meaning that excise duty may not be levied other than in the Member State of acquisition in the case where, as in the present, individuals arrange for goods subject to excise duty to be purchased in one Member State by another individual who is not operating commercially or with a view to making a profit and who arranges for the goods to be transported on behalf of the purchasers by a transport undertaking to another Member State?

If the answer to (one of) those questions should be in the negative: must Articles 7 and 9 of Council Directive 92/12/EEC be construed as meaning that, if an individual arranges for goods subject to excise duty which have been released for consumption in one Member State to be transported by a third party operating on his behalf to another Member State, where they are intended for his own personal requirements and for the personal requirements of others whom that individual also represents, that individual holds in that other Member State those goods subject to excise duty, that is to say, both those intended for his own use and those intended for the use of those other individuals, for commercial purposes within the terms of Articles 7 and 9 of the Directive, even if he is not acting commercially or with a view to making a profit?

4.	If the answer to Question 3 should be in the negative, does it follow from any other provision of Directive 92/12 that the individual referred to in Question 3 owes excise duty in the other Member State?

(1) Council Directive 92/12/EEC of 25 February 1992 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products (OJ 1992 L 76, p. 1).