Nuevo pronunciamiento del TJUE sobre la consideración como «órgano jurisdiccional» de los Tribunales Económico-Administrativos

Abstract

The Judgment of the Court of Justice of March 21, 2000, Gabalfrisa, accumulated cases C-110/98 to C-147/98, considered that Spanish Administrative Tax Courts fulfilled the requirements to be treated as ¿courts or tribunals¿ for the purpose of being able to raise questions for a preliminary ruling, ignoring the conclusions of Advocate General Saggio, who denied the contradictory nature of the procedure and, furthermore, their independence. On the other hand, the recent judgment of the Court of Justice (Grand Chamber) of January 21, 2020, Banco de Santander, C-274/14, refuses to consider the Spanish Administrative Tax Courts as a judicial body, since they are not presumed to be independent. The modification of doctrine is explained by the changes produced both at the level of the European Union and at the level of Spanish domestic law, and, specifically, by the jurisprudential evolution produced at the Court of Justice summarized in its judgment of February 27, 2018, Associação Sindical dos Juízes portugueses, C 64/16.

Keywords

• court or tribunal of a member state
• independence
• preliminary ruling
• spanish administrative tax courts