The EU VAT System and the Internal Market; Thesis Submitted to the University of Dublin, Trinity College, School of Law in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor in Philosophy; Degree Awarded on 7 July 2006

This thesis focuses upon VAT in the context of the Community’s internal market. Its central aim is to prove that the current EU VAT system is incompatible with the concept of internal market as set out in the EC Treaty and interpreted by the Court of Justice. The study commences with an analysis of the concept of internal market, the main objective of which is to establish the basic legal framework for the proposed thesis. As part of this examination, it is demonstrated that the EC Treaty creates a temporally unlimited obligation for the Community to approve legislation with the aim of establishing and improving the functioning of the internal market.