Report 2011 - EFTA Court

Liechtenstein, brought an action for annulment of the same
Decision. Swisscom is a wholly owned subsidiary of Swisscom AG
and has carried out captive insurance operations in Liechtenstein
exclusively for the Swisscom Group since its establishment in
1997.
38 By a decision of 16 July 2010, pursuant to Article 39 of the Rules
of Procedure, and, having received observations from the parties,
the Court joined the three cases for the purposes of the written
and oral procedures.
39 The Principality of Liechtenstein and Swisscom jointly claim that
the Court should:
(i) annul the EFTA Surveillance Authority’s Decision No 97/10/
COL of 24 March 2010 regarding the taxation of captive
insurance companies under the Liechtenstein Tax Act;
(ii) in the alternative, declare void Articles 3 and 4 of the EFTA
Surveillance Authority’s Decision No 97/10/COL of 24 March
2010, to the extent that they order the recovery of the aid
referred to in Article 1 of that Decision; and
(iii) order the EFTA Surveillance Authority to pay the costs of the
proceedings.
40 The claim of Reassur is identical to points (i) and (iii) of the
claims filed by the other applicants, cited above. Furthermore,
Reassur claims that the Court should:
in the alternative, annul Article 3 of the EFTA Surveillance
Authority’s Decision No 97/10/COL of 24 March 2010
regarding the taxation of captive insurance companies under the
Liechtenstein Tax Act, at least insofar as it orders recovery for the
period prior to 31 March 2009.
41 ESA submitted a defence in Cases E-4/10, E-6/10 and E-7/10,
registered at the Court on 13 September 2010, in which it claims
that the Court should:
(i) dismiss the applications as unfounded; and
(ii) order the applicants to pay the costs.
Joined Cases E-4/10, E-6/10 and E-7/10 Principality of Liechtenstein, Reassur Aktiengesellschaft,
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Swisscom RE Aktiengesellschaft v EFTA Surveillance Authority