Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2007:328
Date: 2007-06-07
Language of the case: Italian
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: Italy

Summary of the Judgment 1. Customs union – Customs debt arising where preferential tariff treatment obtained in a non-member country (Council Regulation No 2913/92, Arts 115(1)(b) and 216) 2. European Communities’ own resources – Post-clearance recovery of import or export duties (Council Regulation No 2913/92, Arts 216 and 220(2)(b)) 1. Article 216 of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code, as amended by Regulation No 2700/2000, applies to the inward processing operations referred to in Article 115(1)(b) of that regulation in which the compensating products have been exported outside the European Community prior to importation of import goods (the ‘prior exportation’ or ‘EX/IM’ system). (see para. 26, operative part 1) 2. Where, at the time of discharge of an inward processing operation (suspension system) with equivalent compensation and prior exportation, the competent authorities have not contested, on the basis of Article 216 of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code, as amended by Regulation No 2700/2000, the exemption from import duties of the goods of non-member country origin, they must waive subsequent entry in the accounts of those import duties, pursuant to Art 220(2)(b) of that regulation, if three cumulative conditions are fulfilled. First, it is necessary that those duties were not levied as a result of an error on the part of the competent authorities themselves, secondly, that that error was such that it could not reasonably have been detected by a person liable for payment acting in good faith and, finally, that that person complied with all the provisions laid down by the legislation in force as regards the customs declaration. It is for the national court to assess whether that is the case in the circumstances, on the basis of all the concrete aspects of the case before it, and in particular the evidence adduced for that purpose by the taxable person concerned. (see para. 35, operative part 2)