The Case

Article 13B of the Sixth Council Directive (EEC) 77-388 (on the harmonisation of the laws of member states relating to turnover taxes common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment)had to be interpreted as meaning that transactions by which one company, though a number of contracts, simultaneously granted associated companies a licence to occupy a single property in return for a payment set essentially on the basis of the area occupied, and by which the contracts, as performed, had as their essential object the making available, in a passive manner, of premises or parts of buildings in return for a payment linked to the passage of time, were transactions comprising the 'letting of immovable property' within the meaning of that provision and not the provision of a service capable of being categorised in a different way.