Luciano Baldetti

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale di Santa Maria Capua Vetere (Italy) of 10 July 2015.

Article 50 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which permits criminal proceedings to be brought for non-payment of value added tax, after the imposition of a definitive tax penalty with respect to the same act or omission, where that penalty was imposed on a company with legal personality, while those criminal proceedings were brought against a natural person.

Question referred:

On a proper construction of Article 4 of Protocol No 7 to the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Article 50 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, is the provision made under Article 10b of Legislative Decree No 74/00 consistent with Community law, in so far as it permits the criminal liability of a person to whom a final assessment by the tax authorities of the State has already been issued imposing an administrative penalty in the sum of 30% of the unpaid amount to be assessed in respect of the same act or omission (non-payment of VAT)?

The case has been joined with C‑217/15, Criminal proceedings against Massimo Orsi.

See also C-524/15, Criminal proceedings Luca Menci, disjointed from C-217/15 (Orsi) and C-350/15 (Baldetti) by decision of the President of the Fourth Chamber of the Court of 30 November 2016.