# C_2006131EN.01001102.xml

| 3.6.2006 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 131/11 |
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3.6.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 131/11

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Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 23 February 2006 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Hof van Beroep te Antwerpen) — Belgische Staat v Molenbergnatie NV

(Case C-201/04) (1)

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(Community Customs Code - Post-clearance recovery of import or export duties - Duty to notify the debtor of the amount of duty owed as soon as it has been entered in the accounts and before the expiry of a period of three years from the date when the debt was incurred - Definition of ‘appropriate procedures’)

(2006/C 131/20)

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Hof van Beroep te Antwerpen

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Belgische Staat

Applicant:

Defendant: Molenbergnatie NV

Defendant:

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Hof van Beroep te Antwerpen — Interpretation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (OJ 1992 L 302, p. 1) — Temporal application — Recovery of a customs debt incurred before the regulation became applicable — Interpretation of Article 221 of the Community Customs Code — Duty to notify the debtor of the amount of duty owed as soon as it has been entered in the accounts and to effect such notification no later than three years from the date when the customs debt was incurred.

Operative part of the judgment

| 1. | Only the procedural rules set out in Articles 217 to 232 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code apply to the recovery, commenced after 1 January 1994, of a customs debt incurred prior to that date. |
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1.

Only the procedural rules set out in Articles 217 to 232 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code apply to the recovery, commenced after 1 January 1994, of a customs debt incurred prior to that date.

| 2. | Article 221(1) of Regulation No 2913/92 requires the amount of import or export duty to be entered in the accounts before it is communicated to the debtor. |
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2.

Article 221(1) of Regulation No 2913/92 requires the amount of import or export duty to be entered in the accounts before it is communicated to the debtor.

| 3. | On expiry of the period prescribed by Article 221(3) of Regulation No 2913/92, an action for recovery of a customs debt is time-barred subject to the exception laid down in that article, which amounts to the debt itself being time-barred and, consequently, extinguished. In the light of the rule thus established, Article 221(3) must be considered, unlike Article 221(1) and (2), to be a substantive provision and cannot, therefore, be applied to recovery of a customs debt incurred prior to 1 January 1994. Where the customs debt was incurred prior to 1 January 1994, that debt can be governed only by the rules on limitation in force at that date, even if the procedure for recovery of the debt was commenced after 1 January 1994. |
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3.

On expiry of the period prescribed by Article 221(3) of Regulation No 2913/92, an action for recovery of a customs debt is time-barred subject to the exception laid down in that article, which amounts to the debt itself being time-barred and, consequently, extinguished. In the light of the rule thus established, Article 221(3) must be considered, unlike Article 221(1) and (2), to be a substantive provision and cannot, therefore, be applied to recovery of a customs debt incurred prior to 1 January 1994. Where the customs debt was incurred prior to 1 January 1994, that debt can be governed only by the rules on limitation in force at that date, even if the procedure for recovery of the debt was commenced after 1 January 1994.

| 4. | Member States are not required to adopt specific procedural rules on the manner in which communication of the amount of import or export duties is to be made to the debtor where national procedural rules of general application can be applied to that communication, which ensure that the debtor receives adequate information and which enable him, with full knowledge of the facts, to defend his rights. |
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4.

Member States are not required to adopt specific procedural rules on the manner in which communication of the amount of import or export duties is to be made to the debtor where national procedural rules of general application can be applied to that communication, which ensure that the debtor receives adequate information and which enable him, with full knowledge of the facts, to defend his rights.

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(1)  OJ C 179, 10.07.2004.

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