DNB Banka and Aviva: Has the ECJ Followed Its Own Interpretation Methods and Respected the Objectives Pursued by the EU Legislature?

In this article, the author analyses the recent decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) in the DNB Banka and Aviva cases. In these decisions, the ECJ has excluded businesses that supply financial services from the benefit of the VAT exemption on support services supplied by independent groups of persons. The author takes into account the interpretation methods adopted by the ECJ to analyse these decisions and explains the history of this specific VAT exemption and other exemptions laid down in the VAT Directive.