Opinion of Mr Advocate General Darmon delivered on 2 December 1987

1 Translated from the French.

2 Common system of value-added tax: uniform basis of assessment, OJ L 145, 13.6.1977, p. 1.

3 Directive 67/228 — Structure and procedures for application of the common system of value-added tax (hereinafter referred to as VAT). Official Journal, English Special Edition 1967, p. 16, hereinafter referred to as the Second Directive.

4 First Council Directive of 11 April 1967 on the harmonization of legislation of Member States concerning turnover taxes (67/227), Official Journal, English Special Edition 1967, p. 14; Second Directive, cited above.

5 J. C. Scholsem, La TVA, impôt européen in Mélanges Fernand Dehousse, Vol. II, p. 305.

6 Eighth recital in the preamble to the First Directive.

7 Article 2 (1) of the First Directive.

8 The third, fourth and fifth directives merely delayed the introduction of the common VAT system.

9 Second recital in the preamble to the directive; my emphasis.

10 Eleventh recital in the preamble to the directive.

11 Nineteenth (last) recital in the preamble to the directive; my emphasis.

12 Disputed zero rates : Group 1 — Food (animal feedingstuffs, seeds, live animals of a kind generally used as, or yielding or producing, food for human consumption); Group 2 — Sewerage services and water (supplies to industry) ; Group 6 — News services (supplies to industry); Group 7 — Fuel and power (supplies to industry); Group 8 — Construction of buildings, etc. other than by or for the final consumer within a social policy; Group 17 — Clothing and footwear (protective boots and helmets sold to employers).

13 OJ C250, 18.9.1987, p. 2.

14 Judgment of 10 December 1968 in Case 7/68 Commission v Italy [1968] ECR 423.

15 Judgment of 22 May 1985 in Case 13/83 [1985] ECR 1513, at p. 1556, paragraph 17.

16 Opinion of Mr Advocate General Lenz delivered on 7 February 1985 in Case 13/83, cited above, [1985] ECR 1515, at p. 1518.

17 Judgment of 14 December 1979 in Case 34/79 Regina v Henn and Darby [1979] ECR 3795.

18 Judgment of 1 April 1982 in Case 89/81 Staatssecretaris van Financiën v Hong Kong Trade Development Council [1982] ECR 1277, at paragraph 9.

19 OJ C 226,28.8.1984, p. 2

20 Item 12 of the annex.