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Tax Exemption, Moral Reservation, and Regulatory Incentivisation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2017
Abstract
This paper focuses on those parts of the regulatory environment that are designed to encourage scientific and technological innovation. Patent law is the obvious example; but tax law can also signal encouragement for particular activities. The key question is whether regulators will, or should, withhold tax incentives where there are some, but not universal, moral reservations about an innovation. In order to earth this question, three recent cases at the ECJ, two involving the controversial practice of cord-blood banking, are examined. Insofar as these cases offer any evidence of the prevailing regulatory approach, it seems to be similar to that found in patent law – that is, moral reservations do not count against the applicability of a tax exemption so long as they are not universally recognised.
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References
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9 Case C-237/09.
10 Case C-262/08.
11 Case C-86/09.
12 See Case C-237/09, at para. 20; Case C-262/08, at para. 26 and Case C-86/09, at para. 30.
13 Case C-237/09, at para. 2.
14 Ibid., at para. 27.
15 Case C-262/08, at para. 15.
16 In addition to the concerns highlighted in the text, there are questions about both property rights in relation to the cord-blood and attention to the welfare of the child: for an excellent discussion, see Dickenson, Donna, Property in the Body (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2007), esp. chapter 4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17 See, e.g., the French National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE), Opinion No 74 (December 2002), on Umbilical CordBlood Banks for Autologous Use or for Research. The Opinion is available on the Internet at http://www.ccne-ethique.fr/english/start.htm.
18 See EGE, Opinion No 19, 16 March 2004, on Ethical Aspects of Umbilical Cord Blood Banking.
19 Ibid., see para. 2.2 of the Opinion.
20 One of the points made in the French Opinion, note 17 above, is precisely that there needs to be a discussion about the contractual enforceability of cord-blood banking transactions.
21 Case C-262/08, at para. 52.
22 Ibid., at para. 36.
23 Ibid., at para. 28.
24 Ibid., at para. 47.
25 Ibid., at para. 48.
26 Directive 2004/23/EC.
27 For consent, see Article 13 of the Directive; and, generally, see Beyleveld, Deryck and Brownsword, Roger, Consent in the Law (Oxford: Hart 2007).Google ScholarPubMed
28 Case C-86/09, paras. 43–45.
29 See Case C-262/08, CopyGene, para. 30.
30 Case C-262/08.
31 Case C-86/09, para. 51.