23 May 2019 
Andrea Marshall, Tax Specialist
The Court of Justice of the European Union decision in the Geelen case regarding the place of supply of ‘adult webcam services’ has followed the Advocate General’s Opinion (‘AGO’), confirming both that the place of supply is where the services actually take place, and that this was not where the models were based (outside the EU in the Philippines) but where Mr Geelen ran the business, provided the computer equipment and internet services, and pulled all the services together (the Netherlands).
As Mr Geelen’s customers were also based in the Netherlands it was therefore a standard, domestic supply and there was (unfortunately) no need for the court to comment on whether or not human involvement meant that the service did or didn’t fall into the electronic services rules, which would have been useful to know.
(Note that, like the AGO, the decision is not available in English, but can be accessed in other languages).
