Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
I'm not quite sure where you're going with this. The current law that ebooks should be charged the standard VAT rate as digital services is not under threat, and no court is going to overturn it.
The EU is currently suing France and Luxembourg for charging their reduced VAT rate on ebooks. Now that Italy is also charging their reduced VAT rate on (some) ebooks, I expect that the EU will sue them too - eventually. It took many months for the EU to sue France and Luxembourg, as the first step is for the Council of Europe to request them to comply with EU law voluntarily.
I hope that eventually the EU will change its law about digital services as it applies to ebooks, and allow ebooks (perhaps only those with an ISBN) to be charged at a country's reduced rate of VAT.
But if one was to characterise the pressure for this change, it would be the equivalent of civil disobedience (by governments!), not a court case. The courts cannot change these tax laws. Only the Council of Ministers and/or the EU Parliament. (I'm not sure which is actually responsible.)
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Both have to agree after a proposal from the Commission.
And you were right the second time - the Council of Europe is a completely different organisation - see the history of who did what before the cases against France and Luxembourg went ahead.