«(Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the Communities – Additional motor insurance premiums)»

Privileges and immunities of the European Communities – Fiscal immunity of the Communities – Article 3 of the Protocol – Scope – Additional motor insurance premiums contributing to the financing of public interest institutions levied regardless of membership – Included – Refund of indirect taxes or sales taxes on goods – Application to dues levied when services are provided – Contributions constituting payment for public utility services excluded from the exemption – Exclusion not applicable to the additional premiums in question (Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities, Art. 3) Article 3 of the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the Communities, which provides for the Communities to be exempt from all direct taxes and for the remission or refund by the Member States of indirect taxes or sales taxes included in the price of substantial purchases made by the Communities for their official use, must be interpreted as covering compulsory charges, such as additional motor insurance premiums, intended to contribute to the financing of public interest institutions, in so far as those additional premiums are payable by all those who take out motor insurance, including those who are not covered in any respect by the recipient institutions, and are thus payable regardless of whether the person concerned is subject to or a member of, those bodies. The immunity granted to the Communities by Article 28 of the Merger Treaty, to which the Protocol is annexed, is defined in very broad terms and relates to all types of taxation, whether direct or indirect; it therefore extends to contributions or taxes of any type which constitute internal taxation under Community law, including the charges in question.The second paragraph of that article must be interpreted as meaning that the remission or refund for which it provides applies to all types of purchase, including obtaining a supply of services, which are necessary for the accomplishment of the Communities' task, and the amount of which exceeds the threshold laid down by the legislation in question.The third paragraph of that article, which provides that no exemption is to be granted in respect of taxes and dues which amount merely to charges for public utility services, must be interpreted as not applicable to the abovementioned charges, inasmuch as they do not constitute consideration for a specific service.

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT 28 March 1996 (1)

((Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the Communities – Additional motor insurance premiums))

In Case C-191/94,

REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EC Treaty by the Tribunal de Première Instance, Brussels, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between

and

on the interpretation of Article 3 of the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities,

THE COURT,,

composed of: G.C. Rodríguez Iglesias, President, C.N. Kakouris, J.-P. Puissochet (Rapporteur) and G. Hirsch (Presidents of Chambers), F.A. Schockweiler, J.C. Moitinho de Almeida, P.J.G. Kapteyn, P. Jann, H. Ragnemalm, L. Sevón and M. Wathelet, Judges,

Advocate General: F.G. Jacobs,

after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of:

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the oral observations of the Institut National d'Assurance Maladie-Invalidité, represented by Jean-Jacques Masquelin, of the Brussels Bar; of the Belgian State, represented by Jan Devadder, Director of Administration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, acting as Agent, assisted by Marc Libert, of the Brussels Bar; and of the Commission, represented by David Gilmour, at the hearing on 28 November 1995,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 15 February 1996,

gives the following

On those grounds,

THE COURT,

in answer to the questions referred to it by the Tribunal de Première Instance, Brussels, by judgment of 23 June 1994, hereby rules:

Rodríguez Iglesias

Kakouris

Puissochet

Hirsch

Schockweiler

Moitinho de Almeida

Kapteyn

Jann

Ragnemalm

Sevón

Wathelet

Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 28 March 1996.

R. Grass

G.C. Rodríguez Iglesias

Registrar

President