On 27 September 2007, the hearing in the case of Per Gronfeldt und Tatiana Gronfeld v. Finanzamt Hamburg-Am Tierpark (C-436/06) took place before the European Court of Justice (ECJ). A request for a preliminary ruling, lodged by the Financial Court of Hamburg on 20 September 2006, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union of 30 December 2006. Details of the request are summarized below. (a) Background. The case deals with the transitional rules for taxation of capital gains derived by individuals from domestic and foreign shareholdings as applicable in 2001. Initially, capital gains were taxable when the...