(September 11, 2014) 

On September 11, 2014 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in case C-219/13 K Oy (ECLI:EU:C:2014:2207). The following questions were referred to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling:

  1. Do the first subparagraph of Article 98(2) of and point 6 of Annex III to [the VAT Directive], when the principle of fiscal neutrality is taken into account, preclude national legislation under which a reduced rate of VAT is applied to printed books, but the standard rate is applied to books on other physical support such as a CD, CD-ROM or USB key?
  2. As regards the answer given to the question above, is it of any significance
  • whether a book is intended to be read or to be listened to (an audiobook), 
  • whether there exists a printed book with the same content as a book or audiobook on a CD, CD-ROM, USB key or other equivalent physical support,
  • that with a book on a physical support other than paper technical features provided by that support, such as search functions, can be exploited?

The ECJ ruled as follows:

The first subparagraph of Article 98(2) of and point 6 of Annex III to Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax, as amended by Council Directive 2009/47/EC of 5 May 2009, must be interpreted as not precluding, provided that the principle of fiscal neutrality inherent in the common system of value added tax is complied with, which is for the referring court to ascertain, national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, under which books published in paper form are subject to a reduced rate of value added tax and books published on other physical supports such as CDs, CD-ROMs or USB keys are subject to the standard rate of value added tax.

 

 

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