EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 232/19

(Case C-269/11)

(2011/C 232/31)

Language of the case: Czech

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: L. Lozano Palacios and M. Šimerdová, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Czech Republic

Form of order sought

—declare that, by permitting travel agencies, pursuant to Paragraph 89 of Law No 235/2004 Coll. on Value Added Tax, to apply the special scheme for travel agents to the provision of travel services to persons other than travellers, the Czech Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 306 to 310 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax

—order the Czech Republic to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In the Czech Republic the special scheme of VAT for travel agents introduced by Articles 306 to 310 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC is applied not only to supplies provided by travel agents to travellers but also to supplies provided to persons other than travellers. Pursuant to Paragraph 89 of Law No 235/2004 Coll. on Value Added Tax, the special scheme is also applied in the Czech Republic where a travel service is provided to a legal person which sells that service on to other travel agents. In the opinion of the Commission, that is contrary to the provisions of Articles 306 to 310 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC, which require the special scheme for travel agents to be used only in cases where a travel service is supplied to a traveller. The wording of Articles 306 to 310 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC, and the objective which those provisions pursue, support the position of the Commission.