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The
European Court of Justice was called to interpret EU rules on
value-added tax (VAT) after Poland's commissioner for civic
rights questioned whether the system of allowing lower rates
only for printed publications was fair.
The court said the rules allowed EU countries to apply reduced
VAT rates to printed but not digital publications even though
both met the European Parliament's objective when passing the
VAT directive - the promotion of reading.
The court reasoned that the exclusion of reduced rates for
digital books was the consequence of a specific VAT regime for
e-commerce for which clear and uniform rules needed to apply.
The EU's 28 member states could therefore not be allowed to
apply lower sales tax to e-books.
"(It) would effectively compromise the overall coherence of the
measure intended by the EU legislature, which consists in the
exclusion of all electronic services from the possibility of a
reduced rate of VAT being applied," the judges said.
The European Commission last year proposed changes to the rules
to allow countries to align sales taxes for digital and printed
publications, part of a wider plan to give EU states greater
powers to set VAT rates.
(Reporting by Waverly Colville; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and
Susan Thomas)
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