Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1997:387
Date: 1997-07-17
Language of the case: German
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 — Subheading 0904 20 (dried, crushed or ground 
peppers) — 'Sonst zerkleinert' ('otherwise crushed') — Concept — Product cut into pieces mea­
suring between 4 and 8 mm — Not included 
Subheading 0904 20 of the Combined 
Nomenclature, in the version resulting from 
Regulation N o 3174/88 amending Annex I to 
Regulation N o 2658/87 and from Regulation 
N o 2886/89 amending Annex I to Regulation 
N o 2658/87, must be construed as meaning 
that the expression 'sonst zerkleinert' ('oth­
erwise crushed') does not cover a product 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-143/96 
cut into pieces measuring between 4 and 
8 mm. Peppers are subject to different classi­
fications within subheading 0904 20 accord­
ing to whether their fragmentation is the 
result of 'crushing' or 'grinding' or, on the 
contrary, results from neither of those pro­
cesses. Cutting into pieces is a fragmentation 
process distinct from both 'crushing' and 
'grinding'. 
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