On 29 October 2009, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) delivered a judgment that throws a peculiar light on the interpretation of the concept of economic activities, which is the cornerstone of the system of imposition of VAT. In itself, the underlying issue was quite straightforward. In this article, the author discusses the ECJ’s line of reasoning and indicates that its judgment may mark the starting point of a new interpretation of the concept of economic activities.