Interpretation in Conformity with EU Law - the Case of the Financial Service Exemption in the Swedish VAT Act

Mervärdeskatterätten utgör ett fullständigt harmoniserat område inom EU och medlemsstaternas lagstiftning på området är till sin helhet baserad på EU rätten. En uniform tillämpning av momsreglerna i medlemsstaterna är av stor vikt för mervärdesskattesystemets funktion. Skyldigheten att tolka nationell lag i enlighet med EU rätten är därför ett viktigt instrument för att säkerställa en uniform tillämning samt att EU rätten får avsedd effekt i varje medlemsstat. På mervärdesskatteområdet har undantagen från mervärdesskatt varit föremål för mycket diskussion i och med deras införande i Sjätte mervärdesskattedirektivet, i synnerhet undantaget för finansiella tjänster. Undantagets omfattning och tillämpning har framstått som oklar och EU-domstolen har i flera fall ställts inför frågor rörande tolkningen av detta undantag. Denna oklarhet har inverkat på den uniforma tillämpningen av undantaget inom EU:s medlemsstater. Att tolka undantaget för finansiella tjänster EU konformt är således av stor vikt för att säkerställa en likartad tillämpning inom hela EU. Skyldigheten att tolka nationell rätt EU konformt är absolut och begränsas endast i exceptionella fall. De nationella domstolarna kan inte bortse från denna skyldighet i tolkningen och tillämpningen av den nationella lagstiftningen. Denna framställnings syfte är att analysera konceptet EU konform tolkning rörande undantaget för finansiella tjänster ur ett svenskt perspektiv och huruvida Sverige uppfyller skyldigheten att tolka lagstiftningen EU konformt rörande motsvarande undantagsregel i ML. För att uppnå syftet med framställningen tar den sin utgångspunkt i fastställandet av EU rätten, vilket innebär en genomgång av hur undantaget för finansiella tjänster i artikel 135.1 b-g i mervärdesskattedirektivet har tolkats av EU-domstolen. Därefter följer en likartad genomgång av 3:9 i ML och hur denna bestämmelse har tolkats av HFD. I framställningen belyses den effekt som tolkningen av undantaget i direktivet har haft på tolkningen av den svenska bestämmelsen samt i vilken mån skyldigheten att tolka EU konformt begränsas. Det kan konstateras att EU-domstolen inte har varit benägen att tillämpa den generella principen om restriktiv tolkning av undantag och valt att tolka undantaget för finansiella tjänster mycket extensivt. Den svenska tolkningen av undantaget kan anses vara EU konform i den meningen att HFD:s tolkning följer EU-domstolens praxis. Det framstår också som klart att den svenska tolkningen till stor del har influerats av motsvarande tolkning av EU domstolen rörande direktivet. Sveriges inträde i EU har förändrat HFD:s tolkning av undantaget till att vara betydligt mer extensiv i enlighet med hur undantaget har tolkats av EU-domstolen. Vidare gäller att effekten av den genomharmoniserade karaktären hos mervärdesskatteområdet får särskilt stor betydelse i förhållande till begräsningen av skyldigheten att tolka EU konformt. Så länge EU-domstolens tolkning inte strider mot fördragen är skyldigheten att tolka EU konformt ej begränsad för nationella domstolar.The area of VAT constitutes a completely harmonized area within the EU and the national provisions in this area are to their entirety based on EU law. A uniform application of the VAT provisions throughout the EU therefore becomes essential in order to ensure the proper function of the VAT system. The obligation for national courts to interpret national law in conformity with EU law becomes an important tool to ensure the uniform application and the effectiveness of EU law in every Member state. The obligation to interpret national law in conformity with EU law is absolute and can only be limited under exceptional circumstances. National courts always need to observe this obligation when interpreting provisions of national law. In the area of VAT, the matter of exemptions has been subject to many discussions ever since they were introduced in the Sixth directive, especially the exemption regarding financial services. The uncertainty of the interpretation and application of the exemption has been the subject to many questions posed to the ECJ to clarify. This uncertainty has in turn affected the uniform application of the exemption throughout the EU. The objective of this thesis is to examine the concept of consistent interpretation regarding the financial service exemption in VAT and to examine if the Swedish interpretation of this exemption is in conformity with EU law. In order to achieve its objective, the thesis commences by examining the interpretation of the financial service exemption stated in article 135(1)(b)-(g) in the VAT directive. This implies an analysis of the ECJ case law. The thesis continues by examining the interpretation of the corresponding exemption provision in chapter 3 paragraph 9 in the Swedish VAT Act and its interpretation by the HFD. The thesis highlights the influence the interpretation of article 135(1)(b)-(g) has had on the interpretation of chapter 3 paragraph 9 of the VAT Act and what limits the obligation to interpret national law in conformity with EU law. The thesis finds that the ECJ has been inclined to interpret the financial service exemption extensively and not according to the general principle of strict interpretation regarding exemptions. Moreover, the thesis finds that the interpretation of the Swedish exemption provision is in conformity with EU law in the sense that the interpretation of the HFD follows the case law of the ECJ. It is clear that the interpretation of the ECJ greatly influenced the interpretation of the HFD. In addition, the accession of Sweden into the EU has changed the Swedish interpretation of the exemption to be more extensive than before. Furthermore, since the general principles of EU law limits the obligation of consistent interpretation, the degree of harmonization in the VAT area effects this limitation. Basically, as long as the interpretation of the ECJ does not contradict the treaties and their general principles, the obligation to interpret national law in conformity with EU law is not limited for national courts

A use case of low power wide area networks in future 5G healthcare applications

Abstract. The trend in all cellular evolution to the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) has always been to offer users continuously increasing data rates. However, the next leap forwards towards the 5th Generation Mobile Networks (5G) will be mainly addressing the needs of devices. Machines communicating with each other, sensors reporting to a server, or even machines communicating with humans, these are all different aspects of the same technology; the Internet of Things (IoT). The key differentiator between Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications and IoT will be the added -feature of connecting devices and sensors not only to themselves, but also to the internet. The appropriate communications network is the key to allow this connectivity. Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wide Area Networks (WANs) have been thought of as enablers for IoT, but since they both suffered from limitations in IoT aspects, the need for a new enabling technology was evident. LPWANs are networks dedicated to catering for the needs of IoT such as providing low energy consumption for wireless devices. LPWANs can be categorized into proprietary LPWANs and cellular LPWANs. Proprietary LPWANs are created by an alliance of companies working together on creating a communications standard operating in unlicensed frequency bands. An example of proprietary LPWANs is LoRa. Whereas cellular LPWANs are standardized by the 3rd Partnership Project (3GPP) and they are basically versions of the LTE standard especially designed for machine communications. An example of cellular LPWANs is Narrowband IoT (NB IoT). This diploma thesis documents the usage of LoRa and NB IoT in a healthcare use case of IoT. It describes the steps and challenges of deploying an LTE network at a target site, which will be used by the LoRa and NB IoT sensors to transmit data through the 5G test network (5GTN) to a desired server location for storing and later analysis.Matalan tehonkulutuksen ja pitkänkantaman teknologian käyttötapaus tulevaisuuden 5G:tä hyödyntävissä terveydenhoidon sovelluksissa. Tiivistelmä. Pitemmän aikavälin tarkastelussa matkaviestintäteknologian kehittyminen nykyisin käytössä olevaan Long-Term Evolution (LTE) teknologiaan on tarkoittanut käyttäjille yhä suurempia datanopeuksia. Seuraavassa askeleessa kohti 5. sukupolven matkaviestintäverkkoja (5G) lähestytään kehitystä myös laitteiden tarpeiden lähtökohdista. Toistensa kanssa kommunikoivat koneet, palvelimille dataa lähettävät anturit tai jopa ihmisten kanssa kommunikoivat koneet ovat kaikki eri puolia samasta teknologisesta käsitteestä; esineiden internetistä (IoT). Oleellisin ero koneiden välisessä kommunikoinnissa (M2M) ja IoT:ssä on, että erinäiset laitteet tulevat olemaan yhdistettyinä paitsi toisiinsa myös internettiin. Tätä kytkentäisyyttä varten tarvitaan tarkoitukseen kehitetty matkaviestinverkko. Sekä lähiverkkoja (LAN) että suuralueverkkoja (WAN) on pidetty mahdollisina IoT mahdollistajina, mutta näiden molempien käsitteiden alle kuuluvissa teknologioissa on rajoitteita IoT:n vaatimusten lähtökohdista, joten uuden teknologian kehittäminen oli tarpeellista. Matalan tehonkulutuksen suuralueverkko (LP-WAN) on käsite, johon luokitellaan eri teknologioita, joita on kehitetty erityisesti IoT:n tarpeista lähtien. LP-WAN voidaan jaotella ainakin itse kehitettyihin ja matkaviestinverkkoihin perustuviin teknologisiin ratkaisuihin. Itse kehitetyt ratkaisut on luotu lukuisten yritysten yhteenliittymissä eli alliansseissa ja nämä ratkaisut keskittyvät lisensoimattomilla taajuuksilla toimiviin langattomiin ratkaisuihin, joista esimerkkinä laajasti käytössä oleva LoRa. Matkaviestinverkkoihin perustuvat lisensoiduilla taajuuksilla toimivat ratkaisut on puolestaan erikseen standardoitu 3GPP-nimisessä yhteenliittymässä, joka nykyisellään vastaa 2G, 3G ja LTE:n standardoiduista päätöksistä. Esimerkki 3GPP:n alaisesta LPWAN-luokkaan kuuluvasta teknologiasta on kapea kaistainen IoT-teknologia, NB-IoT. Tässä diplomityössä keskitytään terveydenhoidon käyttötapaukseen, missä antureiden mittaamaa tietoa siirretään langattomasti käyttäen sekä LoRa että NB-IoT teknologioita. Työssä kuvataan eri vaiheet ja haasteet, joita liittyi kun rakennetaan erikseen tiettyyn kohteeseen LTE-verkon radiopeitto, jotta LoRa:a ja NB-IoT:a käyttävät anturit saadaan välittämään mitattua dataa halutulle palvelimelle säilytykseen ja myöhempää analysointia varten. LTE-radiopeiton rakensi Oulun yliopiston omistama 5G testiverkko, jonka tarkoitus on tukea sekä tutkimusta että ympäröivää ekosysteemiä tulevaisuuden 5G:n kehityksessä

Structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry as alternative to laser scanning for 3D modelling of historical monuments

During the past few years, new developments have occurred in the field of 3D photogrammetric modeling of culture heritage. One of these developments is the expansion of 3D photogrammetric modeling open-source software, such as VisualSfM, and cost-effective licensed software, such as Agisoft Metashape into the practical and affordable world. This type of SfM (Structure from Motion) software offers the world of 3D modelling of culture heritage a powerful tool for documentation and visualization. On the other hand, low-cost cameras are now available on the market. These cameras are characterized by high resolution and good quality lens, which makes them suitable for photogrammetric modelling. This paper reports on the results of the application of a SfM photogrammetry system in the 3D modelling of Safita Tower, a medieval structure in Safita, north-western Syria. The applied photogrammetric system consists of the Nikon Coolpix P100 10 MP digital camera and the commercial software Agisoft Metashape. The resulted 3D point clouds were compared with an available dense point cloud acquired by a laser scanner. This comparison proved that the low-cost SfM photogrammetry is an accurate methodology to 3D modeling historical monuments.

Work-Life Balance and Job Satisfaction among Malaysian Healthcare Employees

Increasing participation of women and dual career couples into the employment world, together with the establishment of non-standard work arrangements have affected the employees' ability to juggle between work and life and therefore influencing the satisfaction in performing their job especially among those who are working in 24-hour operating companies such in a healthcare industry. Hence, this study among 681 employees of a Malaysian healthcare organization has found that there was a positive and significant effect of satisfaction with work-life balance towards job satisfaction and male workers were significantly more satisfied with their jobs as compared to the female counterpart.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.

The Effectiveness of the Conceptual Maps Strategy in Improving Conversational Skills of the Upper Basic Stage Students in Jordan

This study aimed to investigate the effect of the conceptual maps on improving the conversational skills of the students in the upper basic stage in Jordan. Data was collected via from a test developed by researcher which consisted of (50) items. The sample of the study consisted of (72) students, (9th and 10th) grades, randomly selected from one of Aljamia District schools in Amman, distributed in two groups: experimental and control, then applied the same tribal test as a post-test for the same groups after teaching the experimental group students on how to use the concept of conceptual map. The results showed that there was a positive effect among the experimental group in the field of conversational skills, and there were statistically significant differences among the students who were suffering from speech anxiety while talking with their teacher or classmates. Keywords: Conversational Skills, Traditional Education, Map concept, Upper Basic Stage Students

Manifestation of work-life balance in the Malaysian banking workforce: Transformational leadership the potent enabler

 Baby Boomers are soon reaching their retirement and the workforce vacancies will inevitably occupied by the Xers and Millennials. The two younger cohorts are drastically different from their senior echelon where work-life balance is of utmost important to them. Transformational leadership is claimed as the potent enabler to the practice of work-life balance. Consequently, this study aimed to examine the extent of the relationship between the two. Questionnaires were distributed to two domestic banks. Findings reported the relationship between transformational leadership and work-life balance. No differences, however, are shown between demographic profiles of gender, marital status and age about work-life balance.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: Work-life balace; Transformational leadership; Banking Baby Boomers are soon reaching their retirement and the workforce vacancies will inevitably occupied by the Xers and Millennials. The two younger cohorts are drastically different from their senior echelon where work-life balance is of utmost important to them. Transformational leadership is claimed as the potent enabler to the practice of work-life balance. Consequently, this study aimed to examine the extent of the relationship between the two. Questionnaires were distributed to two domestic banks. Findings reported the relationship between transformational leadership and work-life balance. No differences, however, are shown between demographic profiles of gender, marital status and age about work-life balance.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: Work-life balace; Transformational leadership; Banking

Periodic solutions of abstract neutral functional differential equations and applications

International audienceIn this work, we study the existence of periodic solutions for the following neutral partial functional differential equations of the following form$\frac{d}{dt}[x(t) - L(x_{t})]= A[x(t)- L(x_{t})]+G(x_{t})+f(t)}

Role Overload, Self- Efficacy, Locus of Control and Job Performance among Employees of a Printing Company in Malaysia

Abstract: Job performance becomes the most commonly discussed issue in the recent years even though many research have been conducted. As the employee is the most important asset for an organization, various factors influencing the employee performance need to be ascertained. For companies that offer services to customers, their employees’ job performance could impact the loyalty of the customers and longevity of the business. However, constant dealing with high and various consumer demands, employees of printing company could easily be stressful hence requiring them to control their emotions. Therefore this study investigated the effects of role overload, self-efficacy, and locus of control towards employee job performance. A total of 67 employees of a small printing company located in Klang Valley, Malaysia had participated in the survey of this descriptive and correlational study. The results indicated that there was a strong positive relationship between self-efficacy and job performance, the meanwhile locus of control had a moderate positive relationship with job performance. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by validating the positive association of both self-efficacy and locus of control with employee job performance. The practitioners could also make reference to this study in order to properly manage the performance of their employees