Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Preliminary rulings - Reference to the Court - National court or tribunal within the meaning of Article 234 EC - Definition - Appeal chamber of a regional finance authority in Austria - Excluded

(Art. 234 EC)

Summary

$$In order to determine whether a body making a reference is a court or tribunal for the purposes of Article 234 EC, which is a question governed by Community law alone, it is necessary to take account of a number of factors, such as whether the body is established by law, whether it is permanent, whether its jurisdiction is compulsory, whether its procedure is inter partes, whether it applies rules of law and whether it is independent. The criterion of independence is not fulfilled by an appeal chamber of a regional finance authority (appellate tax authority) in Austria which is competent to hear appeals against decisions of the tax authorities.

The expression court or tribunal within the meaning of Article 234 EC can mean only an authority acting as a third party in relation to the authority which adopted the contested decision, and it is impossible to regard an authority such as the appeal chamber as a third party, since there is an organisational and functional link between it and the regional finance authority which adopts the decisions contested before it.

( see paras 34-38 )