Case C‑39/17

Lubrizol France SAS

v

Caisse nationale du Régime social des indépendants (RSI) participations extérieures

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de cassation (France))

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Free movement of goods — Articles 28 and 30 TFEU — Charges having equivalent effect — Article 110 TFEU — Internal taxation — Social solidarity contribution payable by companies — Charge — Basis of assessment — Companies’ overall annual turnover — Directive 2006/112/EC — Article 17 — Transfer of goods to another Member State — Value of the goods transferred — Inclusion in the overall annual turnover)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 14 June 2018

Free movement of goods — Customs duties — Charges having equivalent effect — Internal taxation — Social solidarity contribution payable by companies — Calculation of the basis of assessment for that contribution — National legislation which provides that the representative value of goods transferred within the territory of a Member State is taken into account only at the time of their sale — Taking into account the representative value of goods transferred from the Member State concerned to another Member State from the time of that transfer — Lawfulness — Conditions

(Arts 28 TFEU and 30 TFEU)

Articles 28 and 30 TFEU must be interpreted as not precluding legislation of a Member State which provides that the basis of assessment for contributions levied on the annual turnover of companies, provided that the latter reaches or exceeds a certain amount, is calculated by taking into account the representative value of the goods transferred by or on behalf of a taxable person, for the purposes of his business, from that Member State to another EU Member State, that value being taken into account from the time of that transfer, whereas, in the case where the same goods are transferred by or on behalf of the taxable person, for the purposes of his business, within the territory of the Member State concerned, their value is taken into account in that basis of assessment only at the time of their subsequent sale, on condition that:

(see para. 51, operative part)