LE AZIONI RISARCITORIE DEL FISCO INGLESE CONTRO I COAUTORI DI FRODI CAROSELLO IVA RESIDENTI IN ALTRI STATI MEMBRI RIENTRANO NELLA MATERIA CIVILE E COMMERCIALE DEL REG. N. 44/2001

In Sunico the ECJ held that the scope of Regulation n. 44/2001 covers a claim for damages brought by the tax authority of a Member State against several defendants domiciled in another Member State, allegedly liable for taking part in a tortious conspiracy to defraud by withholding VAT. This decision, however, runs counter to the case law of the ECJ defining the concept of “civil and commercial matter”, since it only applied the lex fori to solve the issue. Both from EU- and national law point of view, the subject matter of the claim should have been deemed to be falling within the tax matter, excluded from the scope of the Regulation.