European Commission v Republic of Poland

In European Commission v Republic of Poland (CJEU Case C-193/11) (and related applications) the European Commission formed the opinion that eight Member States had adopted an incorrect interpretation of the special scheme for travel agents provided by arts 306 to 310 of Directive 2006/112/EC in that they had failed to restrict the scheme to cases where the customer was the traveller (as was the case in Germany and the UK). The Commission took proceedings against the eight Member States seeking a declaration that they had failed to fulfil their obligations. Advocate-General Sharpston delivered an opinion rejecting the Commission’s contentions. She reviewed the differences between the different language versions of the directive and observed that ‘it is hard to avoid the impression that the court is being called upon to decide a matter of VAT policy (and of legislative drafting) which has...