Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:1999:207
Date: 1999-04-28
Language of the case: German
Court formation: First 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;Interpretation of tariff headings and classification of goods: principles and procedures
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Common Customs Tariff— Tariff headings — Classification of goods — Criteria — Objec­
tive characteristics and properties of the product — Interpretation of tariff headings — 
Explanatory notes of the Commission and the Customs Cooperation Council — Authority — 
Scope 
2. Common Customs Tariff — Tariff headings — Dried walnut pieces temporarily stored at a 
temperature of -24° C — Classification in Heading 0802 of the Combined Nomenclature 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-405/97 
1. The decisive criterion for the classification 
of goods for customs purposes is in gen­
eral to be sought in their objective char­
acteristics and properties as defined in the 
wording of the relevant heading of the 
Combined Nomenclature. There are also 
explanatory notes drawn up, as regards 
the Nomenclature, by the Commission 
and, as regards the Harmonised Com­
modity Description and Coding System, 
by the Customs Cooperation Council, 
which are an important aid to the inter­
pretation of the scope of the various tariff 
headings but do not have legally binding 
force. 
2. On a proper interpretation of the Com­
bined Nomenclature, dried walnut pieces, 
imported from a non-member country, 
which have been stored in the Commu­
nity at a temperature of -24° C and which, 
after thawing out, are cleared through cus­
toms to be admitted into free circulation 
must be classified under tariff heading 0802 
as 'other nuts, fresh or dried, whether or 
not shelled or peeled'. 
According to the introductory notes to 
chapter 8 of the Nomenclature, chilled 
fruit and nuts are to be classified in the 
same headings as the corresponding fresh 
fruit and nuts, and according to the gen­
eral considerations in chapter 8 of the 
Nomenclature of the Customs Coopera­
tion Council, the expression 'frozen' means 
that the product has been cooled to below 
its freezing point, whereas a 'chilled' 
product is one whose temperature has 
been reduced without the product being 
frozen. 
However, dried walnuts do not contain 
water capable of being frozen; also, the 
treatment applied to those goods did not 
lead, when the goods were warmed up by 
raising the storage temperature, to any 
changes characteristic of freezing. 
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