CELEX: 61988CJ0344
Common Customs Tariff
Ear-piercing instruments and stud earrings

Stud earrings, whether or not put up in sterile packaging, made of gold - or silver-plated steel, consisting of a shank with a decorative head and a "butterfly" fastening, this shank being used to pierce the ear by means of a special device, which secures it in the ear lobe, came within subheading 71.16 A of the Common Customs Tariff even before the entry into force of Commission Regulation No 3558/81 which expressly classified them under that subheading .
Subheading 84.59 E II must be interpreted as including ear-piercing instruments .
Parties
In Case C-344/88
REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EEC Treaty by the Finanzgericht Muenchen ( Finance Court, Munich ), Federal Republic of Germany, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between
SA Erich Wittmann GmbH & Co . KG
and
Hauptzollamt Nuernberg-Fuerth ( Principal Customs Office, Nuremberg-Fuerth ),
on the interpretation of tariff subheading 84.59 E ( machines and mechanical appliances ), Heading 82.04 ( other hand tools ), Heading 90.17 ( medical instruments and appliances ), and tariff subheadings 71.16 A ( imitation jewellery ) and 73.31 B ( nails, tacks, spiked cramps ) in the Annex to Council Regulation No 3000/79 of 30 December 1979 amending Regulation No 2800/78 amending Regulation No 950/68 on the Common Customs Tariff ( Official Journal 1979, L 342, p . 1 ),
THE COURT ( First Chamber )
composed of : Sir Gordon Slynn, President of Chamber, R . Joliet and G . C . Rodríguez Iglesias, Judges,
( the grounds of the judgment are not reproduced )
in answer to the questions referred to it by the Finanzgericht Muenchen, by order of 27 June 1988, rules as follows :
Operative part
( 1 ) Subheading 71.16 A of the Common Customs Tariff must be interpreted as including, even before the entry into force of Commission Regulation No 3558/81 of 8 December 1981 on the classification of goods falling within subheading 76.16 A of the Common Customs Tariff, stud earrings of the kind referred to in that regulation .
( 2 ) Subheading 84.59 E II of the Common Customs Tariff must be interpreted as including ear-piercing instruments .