Commission of the European Communities v Italian Republic (319/81)

Judgment of 15 Mar 1983

law://eu/cjeu/1981/c-319-81/para_5@2026-11-14

3.The third question which the Court put to the parties was whether they thought “that domestically-produced spirits and imported spirits have similar properties and whether or not they meet the same needs”.The Commission explains that “spirits” are defined as distilled spirituous beverages having the characteristics described in the Explanatory Note to the Nomenclature of the Customs Cooperation Council. As such they necessarily have similar properties and meet the same consumer needs. For those reasons the Court has constantly held that all spirits are similar or in competition within the meaning of Article 95 of the Treaty.The Italian Government believes that not ali spirits may be considered to be identical or similar products. It believes in particular that a clear distinction must be drawn between wine-based spirits and cereal-based spirits. They have different organoleptic properties and in the consumer's view meet different needs.On the other hand the Italian Government does not think that different properties may be attributed to domestic and imported products falling into the same category of spirits and it cannot be contended that they meet different needs.As regards the difference in this case between the two rates of VAT, it is in fact based on the fulfilment or non-fulfilment of two precise conditions (a product must have a designation of origin and be governed by specific production standards) which are likely to make spirits which fulfil them products of superior quality.The Italian Government admits that the fact that one kind of product has characteristics of a particularly high quality is not sufficient by itself to make it radically different from other similar products.The United Kingdom believes that the Court has already found in Case 169/78 Commission v Italy and Case 216/81 Compagnia Generale Interscambi that cereal-based spirits, which comprise a large part of the products imported from the United Kingdom, and wine-based spirits, which comprise a high proportion of the domestically-produced product, satisfy the same or similar consumer needs.

Commission of the European Communities v Italian Republic (319/81)

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