GASUS DOSIER- UND FÖRDERTECHNIK GmbH v. the NETHERLANDSDISSENTING OPINION OF MR. S. TRECHSEL
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Document date: October 21, 1993
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DISSENTING OPINION OF MR. S. TRECHSEL
JOINED BY MM. C.L. ROZAKIS AND J.-C. GEUS
To my regret I cannot follow the opinion expressed by my
colleagues according to which the interference with the property of the
applicant company was in conformity with Article 1 of the Protocol.
I first come to the conclusion that the exercise of the
"bodemrecht" in the present case falls to be considered as a
deprivation of property to the detriment of the applicant. In fact,
the very purpose of selling an object under a retention title consists
in securing the claim of the vendor to the full price in case the buyer
were to become unable to fulfil his obligations. Under civil law there
is no doubt that, in the present case the applicant remained the owner
of the concrete mixing machine. Economically, with the payment of
instalments by Atlas the right of Gasus would gradually lose substance,
but this aspect is not relevant to the present case as the machine was
seized while it was still being installed.
The exercise of the "bodemrecht" by the tax authorities thus
deprived Gasus not only of a "nuda proprietas" but of their possessions
in the sense of Article 1 para. 1, second sentence, of Protocol No. 1.
Leaving aside the sheer economical interest of filling the
treasury, which cannot be meant by that provision, I can think of no
"public interest" which could justify such an expropriation as there
exists no link whatsoever between the claims of the Dutch tax
authorities and the applicant company's possessions. I am not aware
of any other legislation which would allow the tax authorities to
confiscate the property of a third party which happens to be on the
premises of a tax debtor.
I also fail to find any justification for this "bodemrecht" when
taking into account the economic background of the
"eigendomsvoorbehoud". It is a relatively simple instrument of credit
which may have great practical importance. This instrument is deprived
of its value when the seller must fear that the tax authorities will
interfere as, in particular, he has no possibility of finding out
whether his partner, the buyer, has paid his taxes due.
Even assuming that the State could claim a legitimate interest
in applying the "bodemrecht", quod non, I would still find that, as the
applicant company was left without even the commencement of any
compensation, no fair balance was struck between the interests of the
fiscal authorities and those of the applicant company. Only in passing
do I wish to express some astonishment at the way in which Dutch
legislation accords a privileged position to the fiscal authorities in
comparison to other creditors.
For the reasons set out above I conclude that there has been a
violation of Article 1 of the Protocol in the present question.
(ORG. E)