Sex in the Union: EU Law, Taxation and the Adult Industry

European Law Reporter, No. 4, pp. 144-150, 2010

7 Pages Posted: 12 May 2010

See all articles by Uladzislau Belavusau

Uladzislau Belavusau

T.M.C. Asser Institute - University of Amsterdam; University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Date Written: April 1, 2010

Abstract

In March of 2010 the ECJ rendered what appeared to be a routine judgment in the realm of taxation. The objects of the levying were films, which are displayed in individual cubicles on a pay per minute basis. The Court excluded such display from the tax benefits enjoyed by other categories of cinema. However, this illusion of a traditional internal market dispute easily disappears if one sexes up the decision, in which judges were essentially confronted with a subtle legal concept of «cinema» and its controversial constituent, pornographic movies. In the best of Victorian traditions, the Court omits any reference to the very word sex, which raises certain concerns about the adequacy of the rhetorical construction of this 21st century decision and its strikingly puritan judicial appraisal of sexuality.

Erotic Center BVBA ./. Belgische Staat, ECJ (Eighth Chamber), Judgment of 18 March 2010, C-3/09

Keywords: EU law, taxation, pornography, cinema, sex

Suggested Citation

Belavusau, Uladzislau, Sex in the Union: EU Law, Taxation and the Adult Industry (April 1, 2010). European Law Reporter, No. 4, pp. 144-150, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1603914

Uladzislau Belavusau (Contact Author)

T.M.C. Asser Institute - University of Amsterdam ( email )

R.J. Schimmelpennincklaan 20-22
The Hague, 2517 JN
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.uva.nl/en/profile/b/e/u.belavusau/u.belavusau.html

University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
203
Abstract Views
1,876
Rank
271,197
PlumX Metrics