7During 1989, the lawfulness of the Ambi was contested by importing undertakings before the Østre Landsret (Eastern Regional Court) (Denmark), which considered it necessary to refer to the Court of Justice the question of the compatibility of the Ambi with Community law. In reply, by the judgment in Case C-200/90 Dansk Denkavit and Poulsen Trading [1992] ECR I-2217, the Court held that Article 33 of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes – Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1988 L 145, p. 1) precludes a tax such as the Ambi, since such a tax:— is paid both on activities subject to VAT and on other industrial or commercial activities which consist in the supply of services for consideration;— is charged, in the case of undertakings which were taxable persons for VAT purposes, on the same basis of assessment as that used for VAT, in other words as a percentage of the volume of sales after deduction of purchases;— unlike VAT, is not paid upon import, but is charged on the full sale price of imported goods upon the first sale in the Member State concerned;— unlike VAT, does not have to be indicated separately on invoices; and— is charged alongside VAT.
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