40Finally, it should be noted that Community law does not prevent Member States — in certain circumstances — from treating the concealment of the existence of an intra-Community transaction as an attempt to evade VAT and from imposing, in such a case, fines or penalty payments prescribed by their domestic law (see, to that effect, Schmeink & Cofreth and Strobel, paragraph 62). However, as the Commission rightly submits, such penalties should always be proportionate to the gravity of the abuse.
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