CJEU – Recent Developments in Direct Taxation 2023

1. Brief introduction the case and its current status

C-387/22 concerns the request for a preliminary ruling made by the applicant Nord Vest Pro Sani Pro SRL to the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter “the Court”). From a tax perspective, under Romanian legislation, Romanian companies which conduct construction business in Romania are treated differently from companies conducting business in other Member States. The referring court held that the approach taken in the relevant Romanian legislation runs counter to one of the principal objectives of the European Union – the creation of an internal market – since any company that carries on business outside Romania bears a far heavier tax burden than companies that carry on business in Romania.

A fiscal policy which discourages companies in the construction sector from providing services outside Romania constitutes, in practice, a major obstacle to the creation of a common market. Thus, pursuant to Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the following question was referred to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling: