Judgment_paragraph 40 · Gabalfrisa SL and Others v Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria (AEAT) (C-110/98, C-111/98, C-112/98, C-113/98, C-114/98, C-115/98, C-116/98, C-117/98, C-118/98, C-119/98, C-120/98, C-121/98, C-122/98, C-123/98, C-124/98, C-125/98, C-126/98, C-127/98, C-128/98, C-129/98, C-130/98, C-131/98, C-132/98, C-133/98, C-134/98, C-135/98, C-136/98, C-137/98, C-138/98, C-139/98, C-140/98, C-141/98, C-142/98, C-143/98, C-144/98, C-145/98, C-146/98, C-147/98)

40Such safeguards give the Tribunales Económico-Administrativos, unlike the Directeur des Contributions Directes et des Accises (head of the Direct Taxes and Excise Duties Directorate) in question in Case C-24/92 Corbiau v Administration des Contributions [1993] ECR I-1277, paragraphs 15 and 16, the character of a third party in relation to the departments which adopted the decision forming the subject-matter of the complaint and the independence necessary for them to be regarded as courts or tribunals for the purposes of Article 177 of the Treaty.