From 22 to 24 January
2025 the annual Conference on ‘Recent VAT Case Law of the Court of Justice of
the European Union’ was held in Vienna. There, the most important decided cases
of the CJEU in the area of VAT of the past year (2024) were discussed by an
international group of experts in the field. (The most important cases and
topics will be critically discussed in the conference book, CJEU: Recent
Developments in Value Added Tax 2024
(Kofler/Lang/Pistone/Rust/Schuch/Spies/Staringer/Szudoczky/ Sanchez eds.,
Linde, forthcoming)). Moreover, general developments, such as the reform to
transfer the jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings in VAT cases from the
Court of Justice to the General Court, (Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2019 of
the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 amending Protocol
No 3 on the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union.) took centre
stage in the discussions between judges, academics, and representatives from
tax authorities and businesses. This report examines the key insights from the
conference’s opening address by Savvas Papasavvas, Vice-President of the
General Court and president of its new preliminary ruling chamber, the ‘Spotlight
Session’ on first impressions at the General Court presented by judges of the
new preliminary ruling chamber, (Under the chairmanship of Prof. Karoline
Spies, the participants in the discussion were three judges of the General
Court who are members of the new chamber for preliminary rulings: Gerhard Hesse
(Austria), Johannes Laitenberger (Germany) and Mirela Stancu (Romania).) and
the concluding session, focusing on key trends and developments in European
jurisprudence concerning VAT law. (The discussion was chaired by Prof. Karoline
Spies, and participants in the discussion were Karl-Heinz Haydl (VAT
practitioner and Chair of Business at OECD VAT/ GST), Prof. David Hummel (legal
secretary of Advocate General Kokott at the CJEU) and Ine Lejeune (attorney at
law).).