Comments on ECJ C-532/22: Video chat business – whether place of supply of B2B service was under Article 53

The case involves a Romanian company called Westside Unicat (Unicat) that operates a video recording studio for marketing digital erotica. The performances take place in Romania, and the performers have contracts with Unicat. Unicat also has a streaming contract with StreamRay INC, a US company that operates a website for customers to access the performances. The dispute is about whether the supplies made by Unicat to StreamRay are subject to Romanian VAT. The tax authorities argue that the services were supplied in Romania because they were related to granting access to entertainment events. The European Court is asked to determine whether these supplies fall within Article 53 of the VAT Directive, which concerns the place of supply for admission to cultural, artistic, sporting, scientific, educational, entertainment, or similar events. The Court clarifies that the judgment in a previous case (Geelen) cannot be applied to Article 53. It also explains that Article 53 only applies to services related to granting the public admission to an event, not to services related to organizing the event itself. Therefore, Article 53 does not apply to the services in this case.

Source KPMG