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61997J0346 European Court reports 1999 Page I-03419 1
Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber)
of 10 June 1999
Braathens Sverige AB v Riksskatteverket.
Reference for a preliminary ruling: Länsrätten i Dalarnas län - Sweden.
Directive 92/81/EEC - Harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on mineral oils - Mineral oils
supplied for use as aviation fuel for purposes other than private pleasure flying - Exemption from
the harmonised duty.
Case C-346/97.
1 Tax provisions - Harmonisation of laws - Excise duties - Directives 92/12 and 92/81 - Mineral oils
exempted from duty - Domestic charges applied, for specific purposes, to exempted products - Prohibited -
Taxation of aviation fuel for purposes other than private pleasure flying - Not permissible
(Council Directives 92/12, Art. 3(2), and 92/81, Art. 8(1)(b))
2 Tax provisions - Harmonisation of laws - Excise duties - Directive 92/81 - Mineral oils exempted from
duty - Exemption of aviation fuel for purposes other than private pleasure flying - Possibility for
individuals to rely on the relevant provision
(Council Directive 92/81, Art. 8(1)(b))
1 Article 8(1) of Directive 92/81 on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on mineral oils
precludes the collection of an environmental protection tax levied on domestic commercial aviation and
calculated by reference to data on fuel consumption and emissions of hydrocarbons and nitric oxide in the
course of an average flight by the type of aircraft used. A domestic tax of that kind, which is levied on
the consumption of fuel since there is a direct and inseverable link between fuel consumption and the
polluting substances emitted in the course of such consumption, is incompatible with the harmonised tax
system introduced by Directive 92/12 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and
on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products, and by Directive 92/81. To allow the
Member States to levy another indirect tax on products which, as in this case, must be exempted from
harmonised excise duty under Article 8(1)(b) of Directive 92/81 would render that provision entirely
ineffective.
2 The obligation, imposed by Article 8(1)(b) of Directive 92/81 on the harmonisation of the structures of
excise duties on mineral oils, to exempt from the harmonised excise duty mineral oils supplied for use as
aviation fuel for purposes other than private pleasure flying is sufficiently clear, precise and unconditional
to confer on individuals the right to rely on it in proceedings before national courts in order to contest
national rules incompatible with that obligation.
In Case C-346/97,
REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) by the Länsrätten i
Dalarnas län (Sweden) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between
Braathens Sverige AB, formerly Transwede Airways AB,
and
Riksskatteverket,
on the interpretation of Article 8(1) of Council Directive 92/81/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the
harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on mineral oils (OJ 1992 L 316, p. 12),
THE COURT
(Fifth Chamber),
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