(April 14, 2015) 

On April 14, 2015 the European Court of Justice (CJEU) ruled in Case C‑76/14 Mihai Manea versus Instituția Prefectului județul Brașov — Serviciul Public Comunitar Regim de Permise de Conducere și Înmatriculare a Vehiculelor (ECLI:EU:C:2015:216).

·        Having regard to the provisions of Law No 9/2012 and to the subject of the tax provided for under that law, must Article 110 TFEU be interpreted as precluding a Member State of the European Union from establishing a tax on pollutant emissions applicable to all foreign motor vehicles upon their registration in that Member State, but to national motor vehicles upon the transfer of ownership of such vehicles, except where such a tax or a similar tax has already been paid?

·        Having regard to the provisions of Law No 9/2012 and to the subject of the tax provided for under that law, must Article 110 TFEU be interpreted as precluding a Member State of the European Union from establishing a tax on pollutant emissions which is applicable, in the case of all foreign motor vehicles, upon their registration in that Member State, but which, in the case of national motor vehicles, is due only on the transfer of ownership of such vehicles, the result being that a foreign vehicle cannot be used unless the tax is paid, but a national vehicle can be used for an unlimited time without the tax being paid, until the ownership of that vehicle is transferred, if such a transfer takes place?

The dispute in the main proceedings and the questions referred for a preliminary ruling

·        At the beginning of 2013, Mr Manea sought to register, in Romania, a second-hand motor vehicle which he had purchased in Spain. The vehicle was a category M1 vehicle. It had been registered as a new vehicle in Spain in 2005.

·        By letter of 5 March 2013, the competent Romanian authority made that registration conditional on payment of the tax provided for by Law No 9/2012.

·        As he took the view that Law No 9/2012 is incompatible with Article 110 TFEU, Mr Manea brought an action before the Tribunalul Braşov (Court of First Instance, Brașov), requesting it to order that authority to register the vehicle at issue without requiring payment of that tax.

·        By decision of 24 September 2013, the Tribunalul Braşov dismissed that action. Mr Manea lodged an appeal with the Curtea de Apel Brașov (Court of Appeal, Brașov) against that decision.

·        While specifying that, according to its own case-law, Law No 9/2012 is compatible with Article 110 TFEU, the Curtea de Apel Braşov states that another Romanian appellate court has handed down a judgment reaching the opposite conclusion and that it is for that reason necessary to seek a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice in order to ensure uniform application of EU law.

·        In those circumstances, the Curtea de Apel Braşov decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following questions to the Court for a preliminary ruling:

(1)        Having regard to the provisions of Law No 9/2012 and to the subject of the tax provided for under that law, must Article 110 TFEU be interpreted as precluding a Member State of the European Union from establishing a tax on pollutant emissions applicable to all foreign motor vehicles upon their registration in that Member State, but to national motor vehicles upon the transfer of ownership of such vehicles, except where such a tax or a similar tax has already been paid?

(2)        Having regard to the provisions of Law No 9/2012 and to the subject of the tax provided for under that law, must Article 110 TFEU be interpreted as precluding a Member State of the European Union from establishing a tax on pollutant emissions which is applicable, in the case of all foreign motor vehicles, upon their registration in that Member State, but which, in the case of national motor vehicles, is due only on the transfer of ownership of such vehicles, the result being that a foreign vehicle cannot be used unless the tax is paid, but a national vehicle can be used for an unlimited time without the tax being paid, until the ownership of that vehicle is transferred, if such a transfer takes place?

The CJEU ruled as follows:

Article 110 TFEU must be interpreted as:

-        not precluding a Member State from introducing a tax on motor vehicles which is levied on imported second-hand vehicles at the time of their first registration in that Member State and on vehicles already registered in that Member State at the time of the first transfer, within that Member State, of the ownership of those vehicles;

-        precluding that Member State from exempting from that tax vehicles already registered and in respect of which a tax previously in force but found to be incompatible with EU law has been paid.

For further information click here to be forwarded to the text of the ruling as published on the website of the Court of Justice, which will open in a new window.

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