Livres numériques - Décision de la Cour européenne de Justice quant à la TVA

Press and Information Court of Justice of the European Union PRESS RELEASE No 30/15 Luxembourg, 5 March 2015 Judgments in Cases C479/13 and C502/13 Commission v France and Commission v Luxembourg France and Luxembourg cannot apply a reduced rate of VAT to the supply of electronic books, in contrast with paper books In France and in Luxembourg, the supply of electronic books is subject to a reduced rate of VAT. Accordingly, since 1 January 2012, France has applied a VAT rate of 5.5% and Luxembourg a rate of 3% to the supply of electronic books. The digital or electronic books at issue include books supplied, for consideration, by download or web streaming (‘streaming’), from a websiteso that they can be viewed on a computer, a smartphone, electronic book readers or other reading system. The Commission has asked the Court to declare that, by applying a reduced rate of VAT to the supply of electronic books, France and Luxembourg have failed to fulfil their obligations under the 1 VAT Directive. In today’s judgments,the Court upholds the Commission’s action for failure to fulfil obligations. The Court points out, first of all, that a reduced rate of VAT can apply only to supplies of goods and services covered by Annex III to the VAT Directive. That annexrefers in particular to the ‘supply of books ... on all physical means of support’.