Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Free movement of goods ° Customs duties ° Charges having an equivalent effect ° Definition ° Motor vehicle tax applicable to domestic and imported vehicles alike ° Excluded ° Internal taxation

(EEC Treaty, Arts 9, 12 and 95)

2. Tax provisions ° Internal taxation ° Registration tax for second-hand vehicles ° Rules resulting in higher rate for imported vehicles than for vehicles sold on the domestic market ° Incompatible with Article 95 of the Treaty

(EEC Treaty, Art. 95)

Summary

1. A motor vehicle tax applied without distinction to vehicles assembled or manufactured in the Member State where it is levied and to both new and used imported vehicles is not a customs duty or a charge having an effect equivalent thereto within the meaning of Articles 9 and 12 of the Treaty, since it forms part of a general system of internal charges imposed on categories of products in accordance with an objective criterion. Such taxes constitute, on the contrary, internal taxation within the meaning of Article 95 of the Treaty.

2. It is incompatible with Article 95 of the Treaty for a Member State to levy on second-hand cars from other Member States a tax which, calculated without taking the vehicle' s actual depreciation into account, exceeds the residual tax incorporated in the value of similar second-hand motor vehicles already registered in the national territory, which, having been taxed at the time of such registration, are not taxed when sold second-hand.