Jurisprudența Istorică a Curții de Justiție a Uniunii Europene Cauza C‑143/99 Adria‑Wien Pipeline
Historic Tax Case‑Law of the Court of Justice of the European Union Case C-143/99, Adria-Wien Pipeline

Summary/Abstract: The Adria-Wien Pipeline GmbH case concerns, from the perspective of European Union law, the classification of a national mechanism for the refund of energy taxes introduced by Austria as part of a structural tax reform. Although taxes on electricity and natural gas were levied on all consumers, the refund mechanism was reserved exclusively for undertakings engaged in the production of goods, while undertakings in the services sector were excluded, even where they bore a comparable energy tax burden. Following the refusal of the tax authorities to grant a refund to a services undertaking, the Austrian Constitutional Court referred preliminary questions to the Court of Justice concerning the classification of the scheme as State aid and the legal consequences of the absence of prior notification to the Commission. The Court held that a refund applicable to all undertakings does not constitute State aid, whereas restricting it to producers of goods confers a selective advantage incompatible with Article 92 EC (now Article 107 TFEU).

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