5.  The applicant was born in 1975 and lives in Dublin, Ireland.
6.  On 28 October 2008 the applicant was travelling on a passenger bus from Moldova to Romania, with Ireland as his final destination.
7.  At 12.30 a.m. his bus arrived at the Albiţa border crossing between Moldova and Romania. Romanian custom officers stopped the bus, got on and started searching the passengers. Two silver ingots were found in the applicant’s pockets.
8.  A customs officer decided that the applicant had failed to declare the ingots and confiscated them. An offence report drafted by the officer stated that the applicant had failed to declare two silver ingots of 1 kg each and had thereby breached the provisions of Article 653 (a) of the Customs Regulations (see paragraph 12 below). In addition to the confiscation the applicant was fined 3,000 Romanian lei (approximately 750 euros (EUR)). The report also stated that according to documents produced by the applicant he had bought the two ingots from a bank.
9.  The applicant lodged an administrative complaint with the Albiţa Customs Office, asking for the annulment of the offence report of 28 October 2008 and the restitution of the confiscated goods. He explained that he had legally acquired the two ingots, which had a value of EUR 500. He had kept them on him in order to prevent them being stolen during the bus trip and not to elude customs. He also stated that it had not been possible to declare goods to customs in a discrete manner or in writing. The passengers had not been allowed to get off the bus before the customs officers had got on and he had wished to avoid saying what he was carrying in front of the other passengers.
10.  On 26 January 2009 the Huşi District Court dismissed the applicant’s complaint as ill-founded. Based on the elements in the case file, the court observed that the customs officer had asked the applicant whether he had anything to declare and the applicant had said no. Under those circumstances the court held that the applicant had been correctly sanctioned by the customs officer.
11.  An appeal on points of law by the applicant (recurs) was dismissed with final effect on 3 June 2009 by the Vaslui County Court. The court held that the applicant, who had signed the offence report, had failed to produce any evidence to challenge the customer officer’s findings in that document.
12. The relevant provisions of the Romanian Customs Regulations, as approved by Government Decision No. 707/2006, are as follows:
Article 156
“(1) A written customs declaration shall be submitted for the following goods:
....
c) objects made of precious metals, with or without precious stones, which exceed the purposes of personal use as set forth in legal provisions;
(2) For the goods listed in paragraph (1) travellers shall submit the written customs declaration on standard forms which are made available free of charge, upon request, by customs offices.”
Article 653
“The following is considered an offence and shall be sanctioned with a fine between 3,000 and 8,000 lei:
a) concealing from customs any goods or merchandise which should be placed under a customs regime. In such situations the goods shall be confiscated; ...”
Article 657
“The offences set forth in the present chapter are subject to the regulations provided for by Government Ordinance No. 2/2001 on the legal system concerning offences ...”
13.  According to the Romanian Integrated Customs Tariff in force at the relevant time silver imported from the Republic of Moldova was not subject to any duties.
14.  The relevant provisions of Government Ordinance No. 2/2001 on the legal system concerning offences in force at the relevant time are as follows:
Article 5
“(1) Offences may be punished with principal and complementary sanctions.
(2) The principal sanctions are:
...
b) a fine
...
(3) The complementary sanctions are:
a) the confiscation of goods destined, used or derived from offences; ...
(4) Special laws may provide for additional principal or complementary sanctions.
(5) The sanction must be proportionate to the degree of social danger of the offence committed.
(6) Complementary sanctions are applied in line with the nature and gravity of the offence.
(7) Only one principal sanction can be applied for the same offence and one or more complementary sanctions.”
15.  The Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1214/2007 amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff entered into force on 1 January 2008 and from that date was directly applicable in all Member States. In Section XIV, Chapter 71 the regulation does not provide for any customs duties for silver in unwrought or semi-manufactured forms or in powder.