# C_2023271EN.01000801.xml

| 31.7.2023 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 271/8 |
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31.7.2023

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 271/8

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Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 15 June 2023 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Administrativen sad — Varna — Bulgaria) — Teritorialna direktsia Mitnitsa Varna v ‘NOVA TARGOVSKA KOMPANIA 2004’ AD

(Case C-292/22, (1) Nova Targovska Kompania 2004)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Customs union - Common Customs Tariff - Classification of goods - Combined Nomenclature - Headings 1511 and 1517 - Refined palm oil, bleached and deodorised - No method laid down for analysing the consistency of a product)

(2023/C 271/10)

Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Administrativen sad — Varna

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Teritorialna direktsia Mitnitsa Varna

Defendant:‘NOVA TARGOVSKA KOMPANIA 2004’ AD

Intervener: Okrazhna prokuratura — Varna

Operative part of the judgment

| 1. | The Combined Nomenclature in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, in the versions resulting from Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1602 of 11 October 2018 and from Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1776 of 9 October 2019, must be interpreted as meaning that a food preparation of palm oil which is not covered by heading 1516 of that nomenclature and which has undergone treatment other than refining falls under heading 1517 of that nomenclature, the question whether that preparation has been chemically modified as a result of that processing being irrelevant in that regard.. |
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1.

The Combined Nomenclature in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, in the versions resulting from Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1602 of 11 October 2018 and from Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1776 of 9 October 2019, must be interpreted as meaning that a food preparation of palm oil which is not covered by heading 1516 of that nomenclature and which has undergone treatment other than refining falls under heading 1517 of that nomenclature, the question whether that preparation has been chemically modified as a result of that processing being irrelevant in that regard..

| 2. | The Combined Nomenclature in Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87, in the versions resulting from Implementing Regulation 2018/1602 and from Implementing Regulation 2019/1776, must be interpreted as meaning that, in the absence of methods and criteria defined in that nomenclature for the purposes of determining whether such a preparation has undergone treatment other than refining, the customs authorities may choose the appropriate method for that purpose, provided that it is capable of producing results consistent with that nomenclature, which it is for the national court to verify.. |
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2.

The Combined Nomenclature in Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87, in the versions resulting from Implementing Regulation 2018/1602 and from Implementing Regulation 2019/1776, must be interpreted as meaning that, in the absence of methods and criteria defined in that nomenclature for the purposes of determining whether such a preparation has undergone treatment other than refining, the customs authorities may choose the appropriate method for that purpose, provided that it is capable of producing results consistent with that nomenclature, which it is for the national court to verify..

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(1)  OJ C 266, 11.7.2022.

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