Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2008:657
Date: 2008-11-27
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Seventh Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Free movement of goods;Common customs tariff;Customs Union
Concepts: The various tariff headings
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment Common Customs Tariff – Tariff headings – Bars of tungsten or molybdenum ‘obtained simply by sintering’ (Council Regulation No 2658/87; Commission Regulation No 2388/2000) The Combined Nomenclature which is laid down in Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, in the version applicable in 2001, namely that deriving from Regulation No 2388/2000 amending Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87, must be interpreted as meaning that bars of tungsten or molybdenum ‘obtained simply by sintering’ fall respectively under its subheadings 8101 91 10 and 8102 91 10. Such bars, which consist of the metals in question in their unwrought form and not of articles thereof, cannot be processed, by being broken up or shattered, into scrap falling respectively under subheadings 8101 91 90 and 8102 91 90 of that Combined Nomenclature. In that regard, according to the Explanatory Notes of the Harmonised System of the World Customs Organisation to headings 81.01 and 81.02 of that system, bars of tungsten or molybdenum obtained simply by sintering are the product of a process involving the coalescing into a solid and resistant mass of powder particles, without the bars disintegrating. In the absence of subsequent finishing or processing of those bars the fact that, because of sintering, the tungsten or molybdenum is also no longer in powder form, but is a solid mass, cannot, as such, have the consequence that the metals in question are no longer to be regarded as being in their unwrought form, at least for the purposes of application of the Combined Nomenclature. In addition, it follows from the very wording of subheadings 8101 91 10 and 8201 91 10 of the Combined Nomenclature that those metals in their unwrought form include, for the purposes of the Combined Nomenclature, ‘bars and rods obtained simply by sintering’. It follows that, since bars of tungsten and molybdenum ‘obtained simply by sintering’ correspond to those metals in their unwrought form for the purposes of headings 8101 and 8102 of the Combined Nomenclature respectively, such bars cannot be regarded as coming also within the concept of ‘articles of those metals’ within the meaning of those headings and that they cannot, consequently, be made definitely not usable as such because of breakage or cutting up. (see paras 52-56, operative part)