19The Court notes, first, that the Horvath, Wolf, Einberger, Mol, Happy Family and Witzemann judgments, which concerned narcotic drugs and counterfeit currency, refer to goods which by their very nature and because of their special characteristics cannot be lawfully marketed or introduced into economic channels. Moreover, it is settled case-law that the principle of fiscal neutrality prevents any general distinction between lawful and unlawful transactions. Consequently, the mere fact that conduct amounts to an offence does not entail exemption from tax; that exemption applies only in specific circumstances where, owing to the special characteristics of certain goods or services, any competition between a lawful economic sector and an unlawful sector is precluded (see Lange, paragraph 19, Fischer, paragraph 28, Goodwin and Unstead, paragraph 9, and Case C-158/98 Staatssecretaris van Financiën v Coffeeshop Siberië [1999] ECR I-3971, paragraphs 14 and 21).
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