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Document 62016CN0072
Case C-72/16: Reference for a preliminary ruling from High Court of Justice Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) (United Kingdom) made on 10 February 2016 — Prospector Offshore Drilling SA, Prospector Rig 1 Contracting Company SARL, Prospector Rig 5 Contracting Company SARL, Ensco plc, Ensco Offshore UK Limited, Rowan Companies plc, Rowan Cayman Limited, v Her Majesty's Treasury, Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Case C-72/16: Reference for a preliminary ruling from High Court of Justice Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) (United Kingdom) made on 10 February 2016 — Prospector Offshore Drilling SA, Prospector Rig 1 Contracting Company SARL, Prospector Rig 5 Contracting Company SARL, Ensco plc, Ensco Offshore UK Limited, Rowan Companies plc, Rowan Cayman Limited, v Her Majesty's Treasury, Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Case C-72/16: Reference for a preliminary ruling from High Court of Justice Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) (United Kingdom) made on 10 February 2016 — Prospector Offshore Drilling SA, Prospector Rig 1 Contracting Company SARL, Prospector Rig 5 Contracting Company SARL, Ensco plc, Ensco Offshore UK Limited, Rowan Companies plc, Rowan Cayman Limited, v Her Majesty's Treasury, Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
IO C 136, 18.4.2016, p. 17–18
(BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)
18.4.2016 |
EN |
Official Journal of the European Union |
C 136/17 |
Reference for a preliminary ruling from High Court of Justice Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) (United Kingdom) made on 10 February 2016 — Prospector Offshore Drilling SA, Prospector Rig 1 Contracting Company SARL, Prospector Rig 5 Contracting Company SARL, Ensco plc, Ensco Offshore UK Limited, Rowan Companies plc, Rowan Cayman Limited, v Her Majesty's Treasury, Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
(Case C-72/16)
(2016/C 136/23)
Language of the case: English
Referring court
High Court of Justice Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court)
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicants: Prospector Offshore Drilling SA, Prospector Rig 1 Contracting Company SARL, Prospector Rig 5 Contracting Company SARL, Ensco plc, Ensco Offshore UK Limited, Rowan Companies plc, Rowan Cayman Limited
Defendants: Her Majesty's Treasury, Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Questions referred
1. |
Do Articles 49, 56 or 63 TFEU preclude legislation, such as Part 8ZA of the Corporation Tax Act 2010, which governs the relief for expenditure available in relation to the UK taxable profits of a company providing drilling services to the oil industry (an ‘oil contractor’) from activities (the ‘affected trade’) involving the use of certain types of assets (‘relevant assets’) leased from a person ‘associated’ with the oil contractor, that:
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2. |
Specifically, do Articles 49, 56 or 63 TFEU preclude such legislation in circumstances where:
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3. |
Would any of the answers above be different if generally, and/or in the specific case of the Claimants, groups owning oil rigs and providing UK drilling services have no significant net UK profits aside from drilling? |
4. |
Would any of the answers above be different if the purpose of the contested Provisions was to prevent the avoidance of tax by implementing an artificially fragmented corporate structure which had no independent economic reality outside of the group?'' |