The Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d’État) of France had requested on 12 November 2015, a preliminary ruling from the Constitutional Court (Conseil constitutionnel) in Case No. 367256 related to the conformity to the Constitution of the former article 145(6)(b.ter) (which is now article 145(6)(c)) of the General Tax Code. According to the article dividends derived from shares with no voting rights cannot be deducted from taxable profits under the participation exemption.

According to the ruling of the Administrative Supreme Court, condition relating to voting rights is contrary to the Parent-Subsidiary Directive (recast) (2011) and could not be applied to EU-sourced distributions except domestic distributions. As a result, a French company will be treated as less favorable if it receives dividends derived from shares with no voting rights from a French subsidiary other than an EU subsidiary. The taxpayer argues on this. According to him such discrimination is contrary to the constitutional principles of equality before the law and equality before taxes.

The Court will give decision on this within 3 months.