English summary:
The case before the Dutch Hogh Court concerns Ms. X, who operates a sex shop. X sells (sex) aphrodisiac drugs such as Libidoforte capsules, Spanish fly drops and the spray Rush herbal poppers. The Dutch tax authorities raised assessments arguing that the reduced 6% VAT rate was incorrectly applied to the sale of the aphrodisiacs. The Court of Appeal in The Hague ruled that the anesthetic substances intended for oral use should be regarded as food and drink products that are used for human consumption, and thus the 6% reduced VAT rate was correctly applied. They contain components – mainly of vegetable and / or animal origin – that are specific to foodstuffs intended for human consumption. It does not matter that they are used as aphrodisiacs.
The Advocate General of the Dutch High Court concludes that the term foodstuff means all substances and products – processed, partially processed or unprocessed – which are intended to be consumed by man or which can reasonably be expected to be consumed by man . According to the A-G, it is not important whether a food consists of plant and/or animal components. At a time when laboratory meat may soon become an affordable synthetic alternative, such a condition is too restrictive. This addition of the court is apparently a substantiating – and not a decisive – argument to consider the capsules, drops and sprays in question as foodstuff.
Source: TaxLive (Dutch)
