Wednesday 9th January
Hearing in Case C-127/18 A-PACK CZ
Reduction of VAT burden in the event of non-payment of consideration or of the buyer having ceased to be a VAT payer
Under the EU VAT Directive (2006/112/EC), in the case of cancellation of the transaction, refusal or total or partial non-payment of the price stipulated, or where the price is reduced after the supply takes place, the taxable amount should be reduced accordingly. However, in the case of total or partial non-payment, the Directive allows the Member States to derogate from this rule. The exception provided for by the Directive is based on the consideration that, in the case of total or partial non-payment of the consideration, the buyer still remains liable for the agreed consideration and the seller has the right to receive payment, which he can rely on before the courts.
Now the Nejvyšší správní soud wishes to know if, under the aforementioned exception, Member States can also exclude a reduction of the taxable amount in the event of a definitive non-payment of the consideration (e.g. by reason of the buyer’s insolvency) or where the buyer has ceased to be a VAT payer.
Thursday 10th January
Opinion in Cases C-136/17 G. C. and others & C-507/17 Google
Right to be forgotten by online search engines
There will be press releases for these Opinions
By its judgment given in May 2014 in the Google case, the Court of Justice ruled that an internet search engine operator is responsible for the processing that it carries out of personal data which appear on web pages published by third parties. The Court also made it clear that a person whose data are processed can, under certain conditions, request the search engine operator to remove links pointing to websites containing his personal data from the list of search results.
In Case C-136/17, a French court has asked the Court of Justice if the prohibition on data processing resulting from the EU data protection directive (95/46/EK) for so-called sensitive data (data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade-union membership, concerning health or sex life, or relating to offences and criminal convictions) also applies to the operator of an online search engine. Should the Court answer this question in the affirmative, the French court also wishes to know if such an operator is obliged, on request, to automatically remove links pointing to websites containing such data from the search results.
In Case C-507/17, the same French court would like to know if an online search engine operator is required, when granting a request for de-referencing, to deploy the de-referencing to all of the domain names used by its search engine so that the links at issue no longer appear, irrespective of the place from where the search initiated on the basis of the requester’s name is conducted, and even if it is conducted from a place outside the EU.
Monday 14th January (2.30 pm)
Hearing in Case C-390/18 AIRBNB Ireland
Can Airbnb’s activity be restricted in the EU?
Following the Court of Justice’s green light to the national authorities for restricting Uber’s activity on their territory, now the EU judges have been asked to pronounce a verdict in connection with the services provided by Airbnb, an international online real estate broker specialising in matching hosts and guests for mainly short-term stays for touristic purposes. Airbnb operates an online platform through which it offers its services worldwide, including in France.
In France, real estate brokerage is a regulated profession with real estate brokers being required to comply with a series of administrative rules. A French hotel and lodging association initiated legal proceedings in France against Airbnb claiming that this latter operated in this Member State as a real estate broker without however complying with the aforementioned administrative rules.
In this context, a French Court has asked the Court of Justice if the restriction on Airbnb’s activity in France in the form of its being required to respect the administrative rules in question is compatible with the E-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC), which, as a general rule, prohibits the Member States from restricting the freedom to provide information society services from another Member State.
Zdroj: CURIA
