CJEU - Recent Developments in Value Added Tax 2023

1. The Background

1.1. The Problem

The docket of the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) is under stress, especially with preliminary questions submitted by national courts under Art. 267 TFEU. That preliminary ruling procedure is a stellar success, and precisely that is the problem. The General Court of the EU (GC), by contrast, is not particularly busy since the number of its judges was doubled between 2017 and 2022. If the high influx of preliminary cases at the ECJ level is not effectively addressed on the demand side - see section 2. below - then it must be addressed on the supply side. The solution then seems obvious, i.e. a transfer of preliminary referrals to the GC. However, such a transfer was and still is not regarded with favour in respect of the unity and consistency of EU law and is considered a measure of last resort that is only to be pursued if all else fails to control the ECJ’s workload. As it stated in its 1995 report on the future of the judicial system of the Union: