The EU Court of Justice AG Pikamäe proposes that the judgment of the General Court and the Commission’s decision on the ‘Spanish tax leasing scheme’ should be partially annulled (Lico Leasing / Pequeños y Medianos Astilleros Sociedad de Reconversión / Caixabank)

Advocate General Pikamäe proposes that the judgment of the General Court and the Commission's decision on the ‘Spanish tax leasing scheme’ should be partially annulled* In 2006, the European Commission received a number of complaints concerning the application of ‘the Spanish Tax Lease System’ (‘the STL system’) to certain finance lease agreements in so far as it allowed shipping companies to benefit from a 20 to 30% price reduction when purchasing ships built by Spanish shipyards. According to the Commission, the objective of the STL system was first to generate a tax advantage for the economic interest groupings (EIGs) and investors who purchased shares therein, who then transferred part of those advantages to the shipping companies that purchased a new vessel. In a decision [1]