Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) 27 October 1993

In Case C-281/91, REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EEC Treaty by the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden (Third Chamber) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between

THE COURT (Fifth Chamber), composed of: J. C. Moitinho de Almeida, President of the Chamber, R. Joliet, G. C. Rodriguez Iglesias, F. Grévisse and M. Zuleeg, Judges, Advocate General: F. G. Jacobs, Registrar: D. Louterman-Hubeau, Principal Administrator,

after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of: the appellant in the main proceedings, by S. T. M. Beelen and Marikén E. van Hilten, Coopers & Lybrand, Tax Advisers, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the Netherlands Government, by B. R. Bot, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent, the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, by E. Röder and C.-D. Quassowski, acting as Agents, the Spanish Government, by A. J. Navarro Gonzalez, Director-General for Community Legal and Institutional Coordination, and A. H. Hernández-Mora, Abogado del Estado, of the Department for Community Contentious Proceedings, acting as Agents, the Greek Government, by N. Mavrikas, Assistant Legal Adviser to the State Legal Counsel, acting as Agent, the Commission of the European Communities, by J. F. Buhl, Legal Adviser, and B. J. Drijber, of its Legal Service, acting as Agents,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the oral observations of the appellant in the main proceedings, represented by S. T. M. Beelen and E. J. Janzen, Tax Advisers, Rotterdam, the Government of the Netherlands, represented by J. W. de Zwaan, Assistant Legal Adviser in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent, the German Government, the Danish Government, represented by J. Molde, Legal Adviser in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent, the Greek Government, and the Commission of the European Communities, at the hearing on 21 January 1993,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 3 March 1993,

gives the following

Judgment

Costs

1 Language of the case: Dutch.