Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1998:234
Date: 1998-05-14
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Free movement of goods;Common customs tariff;Customs Union
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment
Common Customs Tariff— Tariff headings — Junction boxes without cables or contacts — Clas-
sification, on the basis of General Interpretation Rule 2(a), under subheading 8536 90 85 of the
Combined Nomenclature — Reliance, for the purposes of interpretation, on the Customs Coopera­
tion Council's explanatory notes concerning the Nomenclature — Limits
The Combined Nomenclature must be inter­
preted as meaning that a product consisting
of a rectangular container with a lid of coated
die-cast aluminium (aluminium/silicon alloy
with aluminium content predominant by
weight), four steel connecting bolts and four
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SUMMARY — CASE C-280/97
earthing bolts of copper-plated steel (packed
loose in the product and yet to be inserted
into threaded holes provided for that pur­
pose), which is intended to receive electrical
terminals and holes enabling electrical circuits
to be connected, must be classified, in accor­
dance with Rule 2(a) of the General Rules for
the interpretation of the Combined Nomen­
clature, under subheading 8536 90 85 as an
incomplete junction box.
The absence of terminals cannot mean that
the product lacks the essential characteristics
of a junction box and that it cannot therefore
be regarded as an incomplete junction box,
inasmuch as those terminals are fitted subse­
quently only because their form and dimen­
sions depend on the industrial use to which
the box is to be put.
That interpretation is not invalidated by the
Customs Cooperation Council's explanatory
notes, which provide that such products are
to be classified according to their constituent
material. Those notes do not have legally
binding force, so that it is necessary, where
appropriate, to examine whether their con­
tent is in accordance with the actual provi­
sions of the Common Customs Tariff and
whether they alter the meaning of those pro­
visions.
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