Emerging Markets Series of DFA Investment Trust Co v Dyrektor Izby Skarbowej w Bydgoszczy C-190/12, [2014] All ER (D) 84 (Apr)
National rules relating to the tax treatment of dividends from a third country which did not apply exclusively to situations in which the parent company exercised decisive influence over the company paying the dividends had to be assessed in the light of Art 63 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
A company established in a member state might therefore rely on that provision in order to call into question the legality of such rules, irrespective of the size of its investment in the company paying dividends established in a third country. However, it was important to ensure that the interpretation of Art 63(1) TFEU as regards relations with third countries did not enable economic operators who did not fall within the limits of the territorial scope of freedom of establishment to profit from that freedom.
In the light of the court’s settled case-law, measures prohibited by Art 63(1) TFEU, as restrictions on the movement of capital, included those which were such