The principle of effectiveness, read in conjunction with the principle of sincere cooperation, must be interpreted as not precluding legislation of a Member State from setting a time limit of approximately one year running from the entry into force of that legislation, which aims to remedy the infringement of EU law, in which applications for the reimbursement of taxes held to be incompatible with EU law must be lodged, failing which such applications will be time-barred.
The principle of equivalence, read in conjunction with the principle of sincere cooperation, must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State from setting a time limit of approximately one year in which applications for reimbursement of taxes held to be incompatible with EU law must be lodged, failing which such applications will be time-barred, while no such time limit has been laid down by that Member State in respect of similar applications for reimbursement based on an infringement of national law.
Source: Curia
