European Union – Indirect taxation. Articles 10 and 11 of Council Directive (EEC) 69/335 should be interpreted as precluding the taxation of a transfer of shares such as that at issue in the main proceedings, whereby the legal title to all the shares of a company had been transferred to a clearance service for the sole purpose of listing those shares on a stock exchange, without there being any change in the beneficial ownership of those shares. The Court of Justice of the European Union so held, among other things, in proceedings between Air Berlin plc and the Revenue and Customs Commissioners (United Kingdom) concerning the levying of a tax, pursuant to s 70 of the Finance Act 1986, on certain transfers of shares.