turn transactions), fraudulent behaviour, and misuse. The difference in form bears no practical difference in terms of applying the abuse of rights principle to a given case.
2.2 Circumvention
As is commonly known, Member States have the autonomy to introduce domestic legislation in areas not yet harmonised at Union level. Some provisions of secondary law explicitly allow such legislation, whilst it is sometimes implied that Member States may legislate outside of harmonised areas. Consequently, persons (or goods) originating from a Member State with strict rules, may trigger the application of EU law simply by crossing a border and then returning to their home State. The final destination of the transaction in such a case is the home State. This means that crossing the border renders the higher standards enacted by the home Member State redundant and ineffectual, were this conduct to fall outside the scope of abuse of rights.
In the area of services, Van Binsbergen was the first case where the Court regarded such behaviour to fall within the scope of abuse of rights, making it the first example of circumvention. Van Binsbergens lawyer had established himself in Belgium in order to avoid stricter rules in the Netherlands, which under Dutch law meant he lost the right to represent his client. This clearly constitutes circumvention, where a person: (1) established himself in another Member State, (2) in order to avoid the legislation of his home Member State. Though Centros narrowed the scope of the general concept, this remains the most common form of alleged abuse of rights before the CJEU.
2.3 Fraudulent Behaviour
In order to benefit from countless provisions of Union law, certain conditions must be fulfilled honestly and obtained in good faith. For fraud to occur, the claim to rights here must be based on objective false premises. An example can be found in the Van de Bijl case, where Dutch authorities questioned the validity of a certificate which a painter claimed meant that pursuant to Directive 64/427/EEC, he should be allowed to perform professionally in another Member State. The false certificate was deemed enough to constitute fraud, and Van de Bijl was not allowed access to the rights he sought.
2.4 Misuse
Misuse is a broad concept which encompasses activities by economic actors which are, in their result, contrary to the purpose of the right in question. In such a situation, the question is if the national measures at issue jeopardise the supremacy and uniform application of Union law. National courts are thus free to apply measures up to this point only, as to do otherwise woul
