CJEU – Recent Developments in Value Added Tax 2016

S. 43The Role of Member States in Infringement Proceedings

Franz Koppensteiner

1. S. 44Introduction

Member States play a vital role in infringement proceedings, since (by definition) Art. 258 of the TFEU always requires their involvement. The nature of their involvement can be compared to a form of self-defence. As a matter of fact, every Member State tries at first – within a more diplomatic approach – to de-escalate the situation. If de-escalation is not successful the Member State will consider various measures in self-defence against the allegations of the Commission. Last but not least – this usually happens after the CJEU has pronounced a judgment against the Member State – the Member State will do its best to alleviate the force of the impact.

In the following paragraphs, the infringement procedure will be described from the perspective of a Member State with regard to the three aforementioned defence strategies: de-escalation, self-defence and alleviation of the impact. Since infringement proceedings in the field of indirect taxation usually deal with Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax (the VAT Directive), special attention will be given to the implementation o...