{ "attribution": { "source": "legal.exploreworldai.com", "canonical": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/judgment-text?id=eu:c-360-25", "cite_as": "NovaCopilot, legal.exploreworldai.com (https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/judgment-text?id=eu:c-360-25)", "license": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/revision", "version": "legal-2026-10-25", "fingerprint": "ewai:eu:c82ec6", "proof": "sha256:9e635ad5a66e15d155718ad5d32187751b8e06978528ae30d1ef6a70f6f42785", "jurisdiction": "eu", "lang": "en", "publisher": "NovaCopilot by ExploreWorld Legal", "terms": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/om" }, "brand_source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "item": { "schema_version": "1.0.0", "id": "eu:c-360-25", "jurisdiction": "eu", "lang": "en", "brand_source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "brand": { "product": "NovaCopilot", "platform": "ExploreWorldAI", "infrastructure": "ExploreWorld Legal", "infrastructure_url": "legal.exploreworldai.com", "legal_entity": "Valkiv Ventures AB", "permanent_url": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/novacopilot", "source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "powered_by": "Powered by NovaCopilot", "license": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/licensvillkor" }, "sections": [ { "title": "Provisional text", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (First Chamber)", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "9 July 2026 ( * )", "paragraphs": [ "para_4" ] }, { "title": "In Case C‑360/25 [Schoger II], ( i )", "paragraphs": [ "para_6", "para_7", "para_8", "para_9", "para_10", "para_11", "para_12", "para_13", "para_14", "para_15", "para_16", "para_17", "para_18", "para_19", "para_20" ] }, { "title": "Judgment", "paragraphs": [ "para_22", "para_23" ] }, { "title": "Legal context", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "European Union law", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "3         Article 107(1) TFEU provides:", "paragraphs": [ "para_27", "para_28", "para_29", "para_30", "para_31" ] }, { "title": "6         Article 135(1) of that directive provides:", "paragraphs": [ "para_33", "para_34", "para_35", "para_36", "para_37", "para_38", "para_39" ] }, { "title": "(g)      the management of special investment funds as defined by Member States;", "paragraphs": [ "para_41", "para_42" ] }, { "title": "Austrian law", "paragraphs": [ "para_44" ] }, { "title": "9         Under Paragraph 6(1)(28) of the UStG:", "paragraphs": [ "para_46", "para_47", "para_48", "para_49", "para_50" ] }, { "title": "The dispute in the main proceedings and the question referred for a preliminary ruling", "paragraphs": [ "para_52", "para_53", "para_54", "para_55", "para_56", "para_57", "para_58", "para_59", "para_60" ] }, { "title": "Admissibility of the request for a preliminary ruling", "paragraphs": [ "para_62", "para_63", "para_64", "para_65", "para_66", "para_67", "para_68", "para_69", "para_70", "para_71", "para_72" ] }, { "title": "Consideration of the question referred", "paragraphs": [ "para_74", "para_75", "para_76", "para_77", "para_78", "para_79", "para_80", "para_81", "para_82", "para_83", "para_84", "para_85", "para_86", "para_87", "para_88", "para_89", "para_90", "para_91", "para_92", "para_93", "para_94", "para_95", "para_96", "para_97", "para_98", "para_99", "para_100", "para_101", "para_102", "para_103", "para_104" ] }, { "title": "Limitation of the temporal effects of the present judgment", "paragraphs": [ "para_106", "para_107", "para_108", "para_109", "para_110", "para_111", "para_112", "para_113" ] }, { "title": "Costs", "paragraphs": [ "para_115" ] }, { "title": "On those grounds, the Court (First Chamber) hereby rules:", "paragraphs": [ "para_117", "para_118", "para_119", "para_120" ] } ], "paragraphs": [ { "text": "Provisional text", "paragraph_id": "para_1" }, { "text": "JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (First Chamber)", "paragraph_id": "para_2" }, { "text": "9 July 2026 ( * )", "paragraph_id": "para_3" }, { "text": "( Reference for a preliminary ruling – State aid – Article 107(1) TFEU – Value added tax – Exemption in respect of services provided between undertakings primarily carrying out transactions in the banking, insurance or pension fund sector – Admissibility of the request for a preliminary ruling – Concept of ‘aid’ – Advantage – Selectivity – Request to limit the temporal effects of the judgment )", "paragraph_id": "para_4" }, { "text": "In Case C‑360/25 [Schoger II], ( i )", "paragraph_id": "para_5" }, { "text": "REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Bundesfinanzgericht (Federal Finance Court, Austria), made by decision of 30 May 2025, received at the Court on 30 May 2025, in the proceedings", "paragraph_id": "para_6" }, { "text": "***X***", "paragraph_id": "para_7" }, { "text": "v", "paragraph_id": "para_8" }, { "text": "Finanzamt für Großbetriebe,", "paragraph_id": "para_9" }, { "text": "THE COURT (First Chamber),", "paragraph_id": "para_10" }, { "text": "composed of F. Biltgen, President of the Chamber, I. Ziemele, A. Kumin, S. Gervasoni (Rapporteur) and M. Bošnjak, Judges,", "paragraph_id": "para_11" }, { "text": "Advocate General: A. Biondi,", "paragraph_id": "para_12" }, { "text": "Registrar: A. Calot Escobar,", "paragraph_id": "para_13" }, { "text": "having regard to the written procedure,", "paragraph_id": "para_14" }, { "text": "after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:", "paragraph_id": "para_15" }, { "text": "–        ***X***, by P. Goeth, Rechtsanwalt,", "paragraph_id": "para_16" }, { "text": "–        the Austrian Government, by F. Koppensteiner, acting as Agent,", "paragraph_id": "para_17" }, { "text": "–        the European Commission, by M. Farley and L. Wildpanner, acting as Agents,", "paragraph_id": "para_18" }, { "text": "having decided, after hearing the Advocate General, to proceed to judgment without an Opinion,", "paragraph_id": "para_19" }, { "text": "gives the following", "paragraph_id": "para_20" }, { "text": "Judgment", "paragraph_id": "para_21" }, { "text": "1         This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 107 TFEU.", "paragraph_id": "para_22" }, { "text": "2         The request has been made in proceedings between ***X***, an Austrian company, and the Finanzamt für Großbetriebe (Tax authority for large traders, Austria) (‘the tax authority’) concerning the value added tax (VAT) notices of assessment received by ***X*** for the period from 2013 to 2017 (‘the tax period at issue’).", "paragraph_id": "para_23" }, { "text": "Legal context", "paragraph_id": "para_24" }, { "text": "European Union law", "paragraph_id": "para_25" }, { "text": "3         Article 107(1) TFEU provides:", "paragraph_id": "para_26" }, { "text": "‘Save as otherwise provided in the Treaties, any aid granted by a Member State or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between Member States, be incompatible with the internal market.’", "paragraph_id": "para_27" }, { "text": "4         Recital 5 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1) (‘the VAT Directive’) states:", "paragraph_id": "para_28" }, { "text": "‘A VAT system achieves the highest degree of simplicity and of neutrality when the tax is levied in as general a manner as possible and when its scope covers all stages of production and distribution, as well as the supply of services. It is therefore in the interests of the internal market and of Member States to adopt a common system which also applies to the retail trade.’", "paragraph_id": "para_29" }, { "text": "5         Article 131 of the VAT Directive, which introduces Title IX thereof, entitled ‘Exemptions’, provides:", "paragraph_id": "para_30" }, { "text": "‘The exemptions provided for in Chapters 2 to 9 shall apply without prejudice to other Community provisions and in accordance with conditions which the Member States shall lay down for the purposes of ensuring the correct and straightforward application of those exemptions and of preventing any possible evasion, avoidance or abuse.’", "paragraph_id": "para_31" }, { "text": "6         Article 135(1) of that directive provides:", "paragraph_id": "para_32" }, { "text": "‘1.      Member States shall exempt the following transactions:", "paragraph_id": "para_33" }, { "text": "(a)      insurance and reinsurance transactions, including related services performed by insurance brokers and insurance agents;", "paragraph_id": "para_34" }, { "text": "(b)      the granting and the negotiation of credit and the management of credit by the person granting it;", "paragraph_id": "para_35" }, { "text": "(c)      the negotiation of or any dealings in credit guarantees or any other security for money and the management of credit guarantees by the person who is granting the credit;", "paragraph_id": "para_36" }, { "text": "(d)      transactions, including negotiation, concerning deposit and current accounts, payments, transfers, debts, cheques and other negotiable instruments, but excluding debt collection;", "paragraph_id": "para_37" }, { "text": "(e)      transactions, including negotiation, concerning currency, bank notes and coins used as legal tender, with the exception of collectors' items, that is to say, gold, silver or other metal coins or bank notes which are not normally used as legal tender or coins of numismatic interest;", "paragraph_id": "para_38" }, { "text": "(f)      transactions, including negotiation but not management or safekeeping, in shares, interests in companies or associations, debentures and other securities, but excluding documents establishing title to goods, and the rights or securities referred to in Article 15(2);", "paragraph_id": "para_39" }, { "text": "(g)      the management of special investment funds as defined by Member States;", "paragraph_id": "para_40" }, { "text": "…’", "paragraph_id": "para_41" }, { "text": "7         Article 168 of the VAT Directive, which defines the scope of the right of deduction, provides that ‘in so far as the goods and services are used for the purposes of the taxed transactions of a taxable person, the taxable person shall be entitled, in the Member State in which he carries out these transactions, to deduct … from the VAT which he is liable to pay the [VAT due or paid in respect of the goods or services used]’.", "paragraph_id": "para_42" }, { "text": "Austrian law", "paragraph_id": "para_43" }, { "text": "8         The Umsatzsteuergesetz (Law on Turnover Tax), of 23 August 1994 (BGBl. 663/1994), in the version applicable to the dispute in the main proceedings (‘the UStG’), is intended to transpose the VAT Directive into Austrian law.", "paragraph_id": "para_44" }, { "text": "9         Under Paragraph 6(1)(28) of the UStG:", "paragraph_id": "para_45" }, { "text": "‘The following transactions covered by Paragraph 1(1)(1) and (2) shall be exempt [from VAT]:", "paragraph_id": "para_46" }, { "text": "…", "paragraph_id": "para_47" }, { "text": "28.      other services that groupings of undertakings primarily carrying out transactions relating to the banking, insurance, or pension fund sector provide to their members, provided that those services are directly used to carry out those exempt transactions and that those groupings merely demand …", "paragraph_id": "para_48" }, { "text": "10       Paragraph 6(1)(7) and (8) of the UStG provides for other derogations from the liability to VAT, inter alia in respect of certain transactions carried out by social security bodies and the granting and negotiation of credit.", "paragraph_id": "para_49" }, { "text": "11       Paragraph 12(3)(2) of the UStG provides, in addition, for an exclusion from the right to deduct input VAT paid in respect of other services ‘in so far as the trader uses those other services to carry out exempt transactions’.", "paragraph_id": "para_50" }, { "text": "The dispute in the main proceedings and the question referred for a preliminary ruling", "paragraph_id": "para_51" }, { "text": "12       ***X*** is an Austrian bank, which is also the parent company of an Austrian fiscal unit for VAT purposes (VAT group).", "paragraph_id": "para_52" }, { "text": "13       Following a field audit which gave rise to a report dated 1 December 2021, the tax authority found that certain cross-border services provided by a contracting partner of ***X*** relating to automatic teller machines did not fall within the exemption provided for in Paragraph 6(1)(8)(e) of the UStG. Consequently, that authority amended, on the basis of a transfer of the tax debt, the VAT notices of assessment of ***X*** relating to the tax period at issue.", "paragraph_id": "para_53" }, { "text": "14       Since the tax authority did not accede to the complaint of ***X*** lodged on 20 December 2021 against those tax notices, ***X*** requested, by application of 13 July 2022, that that complaint be brought before the Bundesfinanzgericht (Federal Finance Court, Austria), which is the referring court.", "paragraph_id": "para_54" }, { "text": "15       The referring court states that it is required, in accordance with its obligation to exercise its powers of unlimited jurisdiction to review the VAT notices of assessment which are the subject of a complaint, to examine any possible illegalities they may have and to carry out the necessary …", "paragraph_id": "para_55" }, { "text": "16       In the present case, ***X*** applied the VAT exemption provided for in the second sentence of paragraph 6(1)(28) of the UStG (‘the exemption at issue’) in its VAT returns which gave rise to the disputed notices of assessment. The lawfulness of the exemption at issue in the light of EU law, even though it is not disputed in the main proceedings, gives rise to doubts.", "paragraph_id": "para_56" }, { "text": "17       Accordingly, first, the referring court states that that exemption, which makes no distinction in terms of the nature of the services concerned, lacks a legal basis in EU law, in particular in the light of the VAT Directive. The referring court considers, however, that it is not in a positi …", "paragraph_id": "para_57" }, { "text": "18       Secondly, the referring court considers that the exemption at issue satisfies the conditions to be classified as ‘State aid’, since, inter alia, it could be regarded as constituting an intervention by the State, in the absence of a basis in the VAT Directive, that it involves the forgoing o …", "paragraph_id": "para_58" }, { "text": "19       In those circumstances the Bundesfinanzgericht (Federal Finance Court) decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following question to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling:", "paragraph_id": "para_59" }, { "text": "‘[Does the VAT exemption relating] to other services [provided] between undertakings which primarily carry out [transactions relating to the] banking, insurance or pension fund [sector], provided that those services are used directly [to carry out those] exempt transactions, and for the provision of …", "paragraph_id": "para_60" }, { "text": "Admissibility of the request for a preliminary ruling", "paragraph_id": "para_61" }, { "text": "20       The present request for a preliminary ruling follows a first request for a preliminary ruling, made on 28 June 2024 and declared manifestly inadmissible by order of 5 May 2025, Schoger (C‑460/24, EU:C:2025:346), on the ground that it did not meet the requirements laid down in Article 94(a) and (c) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice.", "paragraph_id": "para_62" }, { "text": "21       In paragraphs 20 to 22 of that order, the Court held, first, that the statement of the subject matter and the relevant facts of the dispute in the main proceedings was too brief and incomplete to enable the Court to exercise its power to give a preliminary ruling. Secondly, in paragraphs 23 …", "paragraph_id": "para_63" }, { "text": "22       Following the Court’s request to that effect (order of 5 May 2025, Schoger , C‑460/24, EU:C:2025:346, paragraph 29), the referring court provided, in the present request for a preliminary ruling, information additional to that which it had provided in its first request, referred to in paragraph 20 of the present judgment.", "paragraph_id": "para_64" }, { "text": "23       First, the referring court now clearly states the procedural steps which preceded its bringing of proceedings and explains why it is required to rule on the exemption at issue.", "paragraph_id": "para_65" }, { "text": "24       Secondly, that court specifies the object of its review when hearing a complaint that disputes VAT notices of assessment. It states in particular, on the basis of the national procedural provisions and the national case-law which interpreted them, that it is empowered to substitute its asse …", "paragraph_id": "para_66" }, { "text": "25       While ***X*** and the Austrian Government dispute the admissibility of this request for a preliminary ruling and ***X*** also points out that, in that context, such an examination by that court of its own motion risks deterring taxpayers from asserting their rights before the national court …", "paragraph_id": "para_67" }, { "text": "26       The referring court also clearly explains why its question relates to the provisions of the FEU Treaty on State aid and not to the VAT Directive, which the UStG seeks to transpose into Austrian law. It specifies the reasons for the failure, by the exemption at issue, to comply with the requ …", "paragraph_id": "para_68" }, { "text": "27       As regards the argument of ***X*** that an examination of its own motion of the classification of the exemption at issue as ‘State aid’ would call into question the exclusive competences of the European Commission concerning State aid, it should be noted that those competences relate solely …", "paragraph_id": "para_69" }, { "text": "28       Similarly, in so far as, first, it is for the national court alone to define the factual parameters of the dispute which gave rise to its questions and it is not the task of the Court of Justice to give a ruling on that court’s assessment of the facts (judgment of 6 November 2014, Cartiera …", "paragraph_id": "para_70" }, { "text": "29       Lastly, the argument put forward by the Austrian Government and, incidentally, by ***X***, casting doubt on the existence of an advantage which the application of the exemption at issue conferred on that company, falls within the substantive assessment of the existence of State aid, in resp …", "paragraph_id": "para_71" }, { "text": "30       The reference for a preliminary ruling is therefore admissible.", "paragraph_id": "para_72" }, { "text": "Consideration of the question referred", "paragraph_id": "para_73" }, { "text": "31       By its question, the referring court asks whether Article 107(1) TFEU must be interpreted as meaning that the exemption at issue constitutes State aid within the meaning of that provision.", "paragraph_id": "para_74" }, { "text": "32       In order to give a useful answer to the referring court, it is necessary to identify precisely the scope of that exemption.", "paragraph_id": "para_75" }, { "text": "33       That exemption is set out in the second sentence of Paragraph 6(1)(28) of the UStG which states that ‘that [exemption] shall also apply in respect of other services provided between undertakings primarily carrying out transactions relating to the banking, insurance, or pension fund sector, …", "paragraph_id": "para_76" }, { "text": "34       The exemption at issue was repealed with effect from 1 January 2025, but was in force during the tax period at issue.", "paragraph_id": "para_77" }, { "text": "35       It is apparent from the documents before the Court that, in practice, the undertakings to which the exemption at issue applied, namely ‘undertakings primarily carrying out transactions relating to the banking, insurance, or pension fund sector’, were understood broadly and also included und …", "paragraph_id": "para_78" }, { "text": "36       Accordingly, it must be considered that, by its question, the referring court asks, in essence, whether Article 107(1) TFEU must be interpreted as meaning that an exemption from VAT of services, which are not otherwise exempt, provided between undertakings primarily carrying out transactions relating to the banking, insurance or pension fund sector, constitutes State aid within the meaning of that provision.", "paragraph_id": "para_79" }, { "text": "37       The classification of a national measure as ‘State aid’ requires all the following conditions to be fulfilled. First, there must be an intervention by the State or through State resources. Secondly, that intervention must confer a selective advantage on the beneficiary. Thirdly, it must dis …", "paragraph_id": "para_80" }, { "text": "38       First, as regards the State origin of the exemption at issue, it should be noted that that exemption does not fall within any of the exemptions exhaustively provided for by the VAT Directive and which must be interpreted strictly (see, to that effect, judgment of 2 July 2020, Blackrock Inve …", "paragraph_id": "para_81" }, { "text": "39       It follows that the exemption at issue is imputable to the Austrian State. A tax exemption established by a Member State is imputable to the European Union, and not to that State, only if it merely reproduces a clear and precise obligation laid down in a directive (see, to that effect, judgment of 23 April 2009, Puffer , C‑460/07, EU:C:2009:254, paragraph 70), which is not the case here.", "paragraph_id": "para_82" }, { "text": "40       As regards the condition relating to the granting of the exemption at issue through State resources, which must also be satisfied in order to be classified as ‘State aid’ (see, to that effect, judgment of 16 May 2002, France v Commission , C‑482/99, EU:C:2002:294, paragraph 24 and the case- …", "paragraph_id": "para_83" }, { "text": "41       The impact on State resources is not called into question by the alleged higher tax burden on ***X*** due to the absence of any right of deduction attached to the exemption at issue.", "paragraph_id": "para_84" }, { "text": "42       It is true that the existence of an exemption from VAT, such as the exemption at issue, precludes the right to deduct any input VAT paid, in accordance with Article 168 of the VAT Directive, which limits the deduction of VAT paid on goods and services to cases where those goods and services …", "paragraph_id": "para_85" }, { "text": "43       Nonetheless, first, the examination of the granting of a measure by means of State resources is assessed by definition primarily at the level of the State concerned and its budget and not from the individual situation of the beneficiary of that measure. In the present case, it must be ascer …", "paragraph_id": "para_86" }, { "text": "44       In the present case, it is apparent from the request for a preliminary ruling that, in the travaux préparatoires of the law which provided for the repeal of the exemption at issue with effect from 1 January 2025, the Austrian legislature itself highlighted the additional VAT revenue for the Republic of Austria resulting from that repeal in respect of 2025 and subsequent years.", "paragraph_id": "para_87" }, { "text": "45       Secondly, so far as concerns the advantage which the application of the exemption at issue would procure and the selective nature of that advantage, it must be recalled that the criterion of advantage is understood broadly by the case-law, as including all measures which, whatever their for …", "paragraph_id": "para_88" }, { "text": "46       Furthermore, the Court has held that, where a tax aid scheme applies on an annual or periodic basis, the Commission need only demonstrate that the aid scheme is such as to favour its beneficiaries, by ascertaining that the scheme, taken as a whole, is, given its particular characteristics, …", "paragraph_id": "para_89" }, { "text": "47       As regards an exemption from VAT such as the exemption at issue, it should be considered that its application is capable of procuring an advantage for the undertakings providing the services covered by that exemption, which are, in the absence of information to the contrary in the documents …", "paragraph_id": "para_90" }, { "text": "48       By contrast, in the light of the case-law set out in paragraph 46 above, it is not necessary, at the stage of classification as ‘aid’ and in the case of a potential tax aid scheme such as that at issue in the main proceedings, to ascertain, in each specific case, the effect of being unable …", "paragraph_id": "para_91" }, { "text": "49       The considerations set out in the preceding paragraph apply both where the Commission is responsible for ruling on the existence of aid, as was the situation in the case which gave rise to the judgment of 4 March 2021, Commission v Fútbol Club Barcelona (C‑362/19 P, EU:C:2021:169), and wher …", "paragraph_id": "para_92" }, { "text": "50       Furthermore, in accordance with the case-law and in order to respond to the Austrian Government’s argument that the exemption at issue offsets specific charges due to the structural disadvantages imposed on some of the undertakings concerned, it must be borne in mind that the fact that a Me …", "paragraph_id": "para_93" }, { "text": "51       As for the condition relating to the selective character of the advantage granted by the measure concerned to its beneficiaries, the Court has consistently held that, in order to classify a tax measure such as the one at issue in the main proceedings as ‘selective’, it is necessary to ident …", "paragraph_id": "para_94" }, { "text": "52       The interested parties and the referring court agree that, in the present case, the reference framework consists of the general system of charging VAT, that is to say, a harmonised reference framework reducing the fiscal autonomy of the Member States.", "paragraph_id": "para_95" }, { "text": "53       In the present case, the derogation from that harmonised reference framework lies in the fact that, pursuant to the second sentence of Paragraph 6(1)(28) of the UStG, which has no basis in the VAT Directive, services supplied by a particular category of undertakings to the same category of …", "paragraph_id": "para_96" }, { "text": "54       As is apparent from paragraphs 35 and 38 above, the beneficiaries of the exemption at issue are understood as not including only the undertakings with a banking licence and subject on that basis to specific rules and constraints, a fortiori in the case of transactions which do not necessari …", "paragraph_id": "para_97" }, { "text": "55       As regards the justification for the differentiation concerned by the nature or general scheme of the system of which the exemption at issue forms part, it should be borne in mind that, according to recital 5 of the VAT Directive, ‘a VAT system achieves the highest degree of simplicity and of neutrality when the tax is levied in as general a manner as possible and when its scope covers all stages of production and distribution, as well as the supply of services’.", "paragraph_id": "para_98" }, { "text": "56       Accordingly, even though it will be for the referring court to ascertain whether there is any justification in the light of all the relevant factors of the dispute before it, the preservation of fiscal neutrality, the prevention of overlapping taxes and the administrative simplification put …", "paragraph_id": "para_99" }, { "text": "57       It follows that the condition relating to the selective nature of the advantage granted by the measure concerned to its beneficiaries is satisfied by the exemption at issue.", "paragraph_id": "para_100" }, { "text": "58       Thirdly, as regards the condition that the measure concerned must distort or threaten to distort competition, it is necessary, in accordance with the wording of Article 107(1) TFEU, not to establish an actual distortion of competition, but only to examine whether that measure is liable to d …", "paragraph_id": "para_101" }, { "text": "59       Fourthly, as regards the condition that the measure concerned must be liable to affect trade between the Member States, it follows in the present case from the advantage procured by the exemption at issue. The Court has consistently held that when aid granted by a Member State strengthens t …", "paragraph_id": "para_102" }, { "text": "60       The fact that the exemption at issue also benefits taxable persons established in other Member States is not such as to call into question the fact that it is liable to affect trade between the Member States. All the undertakings providing services to undertakings primarily carrying out tra …", "paragraph_id": "para_103" }, { "text": "61       In the light of all of the foregoing, the answer to the question referred for a preliminary ruling is that Article 107(1) TFEU must be interpreted as meaning that an exemption from VAT of services, which are not otherwise exempt, provided between undertakings primarily carrying out transactions relating to the banking, insurance or pension fund sector, constitutes State aid within the meaning of that provision.", "paragraph_id": "para_104" }, { "text": "Limitation of the temporal effects of the present judgment", "paragraph_id": "para_105" }, { "text": "62       The Austrian Government requests that the temporal effects of the present judgment be limited to events subsequent to the date of the judgment. The finding of the existence of State aid has significant consequences for the Austrian banking and insurance sector, since all the transactions ex …", "paragraph_id": "para_106" }, { "text": "63       It should be recalled that the interpretation which, in the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred on it by Article 267 TFEU, the Court gives to rules of EU law clarifies and defines the meaning and scope of those rules as they must be or ought to have been understood and applied from the t …", "paragraph_id": "para_107" }, { "text": "64       Accordingly, the Court has taken that step only in quite specific circumstances, notably where there was a risk of serious economic repercussions owing in particular to the large number of legal relationships entered into in good faith on the basis of rules considered to be validly in force …", "paragraph_id": "para_108" }, { "text": "65       As regards the criterion relating to the existence of a risk of serious economic repercussions, it should be recalled that it is for the Member State seeking to limit the temporal effects of a judgment on a preliminary ruling to produce, before the Court, figures showing the risk of such repercussions (judgment of 20 December 2017, Erzeugerorganisation Tiefkühlgemüse , C‑516/16, EU:C:2017:1011, paragraph 91 and the case-law cited).", "paragraph_id": "para_109" }, { "text": "66       In the present case, the Austrian Government merely refers to significant consequences, without any details relating to the extent of the services between undertakings in the banking, insurance or pension fund sector, benefiting from the exemption at issue, and thus of the potential impact of an obligation to pay VAT relating to those services on that sector.", "paragraph_id": "para_110" }, { "text": "67       In any event, and without prejudice to the competences of the Commission concerning State aid, tax periods which have been definitively closed should not be reopened in national court proceedings following the present judgment (see, to that effect, judgment of 21 September 2017, DNB Banka , …", "paragraph_id": "para_111" }, { "text": "68       In those circumstances, it must be held that the criterion relating to the risk of serious difficulties is not fulfilled, with the result that it is not necessary to ascertain whether the criterion relating to the good faith of those concerned is fulfilled.", "paragraph_id": "para_112" }, { "text": "69       There is no need therefore to limit the temporal effects of the present judgment.", "paragraph_id": "para_113" }, { "text": "Costs", "paragraph_id": "para_114" }, { "text": "70       Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main proceedings, a step in the action pending before the referring court, the decision on costs is a matter for that court. Costs incurred in submitting observations to the Court, other than the costs of those parties, are not recoverable.", "paragraph_id": "para_115" }, { "text": "On those grounds, the Court (First Chamber) hereby rules:", "paragraph_id": "para_116" }, { "text": "Article 107(1) TFEU must be interpreted as meaning that an exemption from value added tax of services, which are not otherwise exempt, provided between undertakings primarily carrying out transactions relating to the banking, insurance or pension fund sector, constitutes State aid within the meaning of that provision.", "paragraph_id": "para_117" }, { "text": "[Signatures]", "paragraph_id": "para_118" }, { "text": "*       Language of the case: German.", "paragraph_id": "para_119" }, { "text": "i       The name of the present case is a fictitious name. 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