R (Daily Mail and General Trust plc) v HM Treasury and Commissioners of Inland Revenue (1988)[1] is an EU law case, concerning the freedom of establishment in the European Union.

This was to be done for the purpose of selling a significant part of its non-permanent assets and using the sale proceeds to buy its own shares without having to pay the tax normally due on such transactions in the UK.

The Court of Justice held that TFEU article 49 did not apply, and so the rules requiring UK Treasury permission could operate.

Moreover, Article 220 of the Treaty provides for the conclusion, so far as is necessary, of agreements between the Member States with a view to securing inter alia the retention of legal personality in the event of transfer of the registered office of companies from one country to another.

23 It must therefore be held that the Treaty regards the differences in national legislation concerning the required connecting factor and the question whether - and if so how - the registered office or real head office of a company incorporated under national law may be transferred from one Member State to another as problems which are not resolved by the rules concerning the right of establishment but must be dealt with by future legislation or conventions.