Order of the Court (Eighth Chamber) of 14 April 2016

Harmonisation of fiscal legislationCommon system of value added taxExemptionsExemption in respect of the provision of medical care in the exercise of the medical and paramedical professionsDiscretion of the Member States to define the paramedical processions and the health care services provided by persons working in those professionsLimitsExclusion of therapies specific to osteopathy carried out by a physiotherapistAssessment by national courtsCriteria (Council Directive 2006/112, Art. 132(1)(c)) (see paras 25-47, operative part)

Operative part

Article 132(1)(c) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax must be interpreted as meaning that a physiotherapist who, in the context of his professional health activity, uses, either indistinctly or complementarily, both therapies characteristic of physiotherapy and therapies characteristic of osteopathy must be exempt from value added tax not only with regard to the former therapies, but also with regard to the latter, where the exclusion of the therapies characteristic of osteopathy from the exercise of paramedical professions for the purposes of an exemption from value added tax exceeds the scope of the discretion granted to Member States by that provision.