Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2000:123
Date: 2000-03-14
Language of the case: German
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Free movement of goods;Customs Union;Value for customs purposes
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Common Customs Tariff — Customs value — Transaction value — Determina­
tion — Costs of analyses — Included — Criteria 
(Council Regulation No 1224/80, Art 3(1) and (3) (a)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-15/99 
2. Own resources of the European Communities — Post-clearance recovery of import or 
export duties — Conditions for non-recovery laid down in Article 5(2) of Regulation 
No 1697/79 — Individual case 
(Council Regulation No 1697/79, Art. 5(2)) 
1. The costs of analyses designed to 
establish the conformity of imported 
goods with the national legislation of 
the importing Member State, which the 
importer invoices to the buyer in addi­
tion to the price of the goods, must be 
regarded as an integral part of their 
'transaction value' within the meaning 
of Art ic le 3(1) of Regula t ion 
No 1224/80 on the valuation of goods 
for customs purposes inasmuch as the 
analyses are necessary in order for the 
goods to be delivered in accordance 
with the provisions of the contract. The 
costs pertaining to those analyses must 
be regarded as part of the 'payments 
made or to be made as a condition of 
sale of the imported goods by the buyer 
to the seller... to satisfy an obligation of 
the seller' within the meaning of Arti­
cle 3(3)(a) of Regulation No 1224/80. 
(see paras 23-24, 27 
and operative part 1) 
2. Article 5(2) of Regulation No 1697/79 
on the post-clearance recovery of 
import duties or export duties which 
have not been required of the person 
liable for payment of goods entered for 
a customs procedure involving the 
obligation to pay such duties, makes 
waiver of post-clearance recovery by 
the national authorities subject to three 
cumulative conditions, namely that 
non-collection of the duties must have 
been as a result of an error made by the 
competent authorities themselves; the 
error must be such that it could not 
reasonably be detected by the person 
liable acting in good faith; and the 
person liable must have complied with 
all of the provisions laid down by the 
rules in force as far as his customs 
declaration is concerned. 
It follows that the customs authorities 
of a Member State must refrain from 
post-clearance recovery of duty pur­
suant to that provision, if, at a previous 
on-the-spot inspection of importations, 
they raised no objection to the non-
inclusion of flat-rate expenses in the 
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SOMMER 
customs value of similar transactions 
and it does not appear that the trader, 
who had complied with all of the 
provisions laid down by the rules in 
force as far as his customs declaration 
is concerned, could have been in doubt 
about the correctness of the results of 
the inspection. 
(see paras 35-37, 39—40 
and operative part 2) 
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