‘Trouble Always Comes in Threes’: The Taricco Case Saga and the Italian Limitation Period in VAT Fraud

Abstract

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision on the so-called Taricco case has been a source of significant debate among Italian scholars for the past year. The peculiarity of this case derives from the fact that more than one legal discipline is involved, ranging from tax law, criminal and procedural criminal law to constitutional law. The purpose of this article is therefore to examine the entire Taricco case by considering in turn the three different judicial phases which have characterized it. Beginning with the ECJ decision, it is then necessary to take into account how the Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) has implemented in its case law the dispositions contained in the European decision. Finally, it is important to analyse the recent ordinance of the Italian Constitutional Court addressing again the ECJ and therefore opening new phases in the ongoing debate. Particular attention is given to the implications of this case on fundamental principles characterizing most of the European Member States and the role this decision might have in the adoption of the European Directive on the fight against fraud to the Union’s financial interests by means of criminal law that will replace Convention on the Protection of the European Communities’ Financial Interests (PFI) Convention.