European Union – Freedom of establishment. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that art 49 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union precluded legislation of a member state, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which, in the context of the taxation of a group of companies, allowed a parent company, in the case of the acquisition of a holding in a resident company which became a member of such a group, to depreciate the goodwill up to a maximum of 50% of the purchase price of the holding, while such depreciation was prohibited in the case of the acquisition of a holding in a non-resident company.