(2018) 2 African Human Rights Yearbook
113
only be granted if expressly provided for under the law.155 In the event,
High Court Judge Kiryabwire (as he then was) did refer to the Card
Protection case, albeit in a holding apposite to that urged by the
defendant, and found that the applicants’ services were entitled to tax
exemption under the Value Added Tax Act.156
Substantial reliance on the case law of the ECJ also occurred in the
2012 case of Uganda Revenue Authority v Total Uganda Ltd157 –
another tax dispute before the Commercial Division of the High Court.
In interpreting Section 12(1) of the Value Added Tax Act, High Court
Judge Christopher Madrama (as he then was) also referred to, and
relied upon the ECJ decision in the Card Protection Plan case.158 He
held, on the authority of Card Protection Plan, that a supply which was
essentially a single or incidental service from a commercial lens should
not be mechanically disaggregated, and that the Revenue Authority was
required to assess the main characteristics of the whole dealing to
evaluate whether the taxable entity was supplying a number of separate
services, or a single service.159 In reaching this decision Judge
Madrama found that an alternative ECJ decision urged upon the Court
by the appellant – the case of Levob Verzekeringen BV and another v
Staatssecretaris van Financien160 – did not diminish the authority of
the Card Protection Plan case but rather affirmed the principle
therein.161 The Judge also seemed to have drawn comfort, in relying on
Card Protection, from the fact that the decision in that case had ‘been
followed in subsequent cases both by the European Court of Justice of
the Communities and the English courts’.162
In addition, in the 2015 case of Kampala Stocks Supermarket Co
Ltd v Seven Days International Ltd,163 a trademark dispute in the
Commercial Division of the Uganda High Court, Counsel for the
defendant relied on, among others, the case of Arsenal Football Club v
Matthew Reed.164 In that case, the ECJ had held that the purpose of
trademarks was to assure the identity of origin of the protected goods
or services to the final consumers by enabling them to distinguish such
goods or services from others of a different origin. Ultimately, in
resolving the dispute, however, High Court Judge Christopher
Madrama placed no reliance on this particular decision.
Similar invocation of ECJ jurisprudence by counsel was made in
another trademark dispute before the Commercial Division of the
Uganda High Court – the 2015 case of Nairobi Java House Ltd v
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
At 10-11.
At 15.
High Court Civil Appeal No.11 of 2012, arising from Tax Appeal Tribunal Case No.
9 of 2010.
n 153.
At 10-12.
[2006] STC 766, Decision of the First Chamber, ECJ.
At 12.
At 10.
High Court Civil Suit 112 of 2015.
Case C-206/01.