CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGE LORENZEN JOINED BY JUDGES RAIMONDI AND JOÄŒIENE

I voted only with some hesitation for finding a violation in this case, which in my opinion should have been relinquished to the Grand Chamber. However, even if I have accepted the conclusion of the judgment and also largely agree with its reasoning, I find it necessary to explain my vote by adding the following comments:

It has been the Court´s constant case-law that the imposition of taxes as a general rule is for the States to decide and that only if the system or the way it has been applied in a particular case is arbitrary or devoid of reasonable foundation can the imposition of taxes be challenged under Article 1 of Protocol No 1. The judgment should in my opinion be understood as not interfering with the principles applied in this field so far.

The judgment to some extent addresses the issue whether the tax law was applied retroactively (see paragraphs 51, 52 and 74). Whether this was so in the applicant’s case is in my opinion open to doubt, but I do not consider it necessary to examine the question any further. I find it important, however, to underline that the Convention – save in criminal cases and, to a certain extent, in the framework of Article 6 of the Convention – does not contain a general prohibition on legislation with retroactive effect, and that the Court in its case-law so far has not developed clear principles as to when and under what circumstances retroactive tax legislation is incompatible with Article 1 of Protocol No 1. In M.A. and 34 Others the Court in fact stated directly that “retrospective tax legislation is not as such prohibited by that provision”. The judgment should in my opinion be understood as not having introduced new principles concerning this issue.

The finding of a violation in the present case was for me to a considerable extent justified by the very peculiar way this tax legislation was introduced and applied in a case like the applicant’s.

[1] Approximately EUR 12,000

[2] Approximately EUR 8,300

[3] The text of this paragraph was rectified on 2 July 2013 under Rule 81 of the Rules of Court.

[4] Approximately EUR 8,000