EU Advocate General Opinion that EU Law Precludes French Restrictions on Dividend Exemption under Parent-Subsidiary Directive

On 19 January 2017, the opinion of Advocate General Juliane Kokott of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) was published concerning French dividend exemption restrictions in relation to the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive.

The case involves a French resident company that was wholly owned by a Luxembourg company that was in turn indirectly controlled by a Swiss company. In 2005 and 2006, dividend distributions were made by the French company to its Luxembourg parent, for which an…