Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:1998:31
Date: 1998-01-29
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Milk products;Free movement of goods;Common customs tariff;Customs Union
Concepts: Interpretation of tariff headings and classification of goods: principles and procedures
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment
Common Customs Tariff — Classification of goods — Binding tariff information — Scope —
Protection of traders against any change in the interpretation by the customs authorities of the
legislation in force — Limits — Amendment ofthat legislation — Article 13, first paragraph, first
indent, of Regulation No 1715/90 — No breach of the principle of the protection of legitimate
expectations or of the principle of legal certainty — Validity
(Council Regulation No 1715/90, Art. 13, first para., first indent)
I-317
SUMMARY — CASE C-315/96
The aim of binding tariff information is to
enable the trader to proceed with certainty
where there are doubts as to the classifica­
tion of goods in the existing customs nomen­
clature, thereby protecting him against any
subsequent change in the position adopted
by the customs authorities with regard to the
classification of the goods. However, as is
confirmed clearly and precisely by the word­
ing of the first indent of the first paragraph
of Article 13 of Regulation No 1715/90 on
the information provided by the customs
authorities of the Member States concerning
the classification of goods in the customs
nomenclature, such information is not aimed
at, nor can it have the effect of, guaranteeing
that the tariff heading to which the trader
refers will not subsequently be amended by a
measure adopted by the Community legisla­
ture.
Accordingly, in so far as that article provides
that binding tariff information ceases to be
valid where, as a result of the adoption of a
regulation amending the customs nomencla­
ture, it no longer conforms to Community
law as thus established, not only is it in
keeping with the requirements inherent in
the principle of legal certainty, but it also
precludes the trader from being able to
entertain, on the sole basis of binding tariff
information, a legitimate expectation that the
tariff heading in question will not be
amended by a measure adopted by the Com­
munity legislature.
Moreover, that provision does not prevent
the principles of the protection of legitimate
expectations and legal certainty from impos­
ing on the Community legislature, when the
customs nomenclature is amended, the obli­
gation to protect by means of appropriate
measures traders who would otherwise sus­
tain unforeseeable and irreparable damage,
whether or not they are the addressees of
binding tariff information.
I-318