Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1999:448
Date: 1999-09-23
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Taxation;Free movement of goods;Customs Union;Internal taxation;Charges having an equivalent effect;Value for customs purposes
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Greece

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Tax provisions — Internal taxation —• Taxable value — Calculation method which 
varies as between domestic products and those imported from other Member States — 
Incompatible with Article 95 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 90 EC) 
(EC Treaty, Art. 95 (now, after amendment, Art. 90 EC)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-228/98 
2. Free movement of goods — Customs duties — Charges having equivalent effect — 
Internal taxation — Tax levied only on goods imported from other Member States, to 
the exclusion of similar domestic goods — Not permissible 
(EC Treaty, Arts 9, 12 and 95 (now, after amendment, Arts 23 EC, 25 EC and 90 EC)) 
3. Common Customs Tariff— Customs value — Regulation No 1224/80 — Scope 
(Council Regulation No 1224/80) 
4. Community law — Direct effect — Individual rights — Protected by national courts 
and tribunals — Legal proceedings — Detailed national procedural rules — Condi­
tions of application 
(EC Treaty, Art. 5 (now Art. 10 EC)) 
5. Community law — Direct effect — Individual rights — Protected by national courts 
and tribunals — Legal proceedings — Detailed national procedural rules — Condi­
tions of application — National legislation requiring customs authorities to withhold 
goods 
6. Community law — Direct effect — Individual rights — Protected by national courts 
and tribunals — Legal proceedings — Detailed national procedural rules — Condi­
tions of application — National legislation laying down an administrative procedure 
for the settlement of customs disputes — Whether permissible — Criteria 
7. Community law — Direct effect — Individual rights — Protected by national courts 
and tribunals — Legal proceedings — Detailed national procedural rules — Condi­
tions of application — National legislation restricting the use of witness evidence — 
Whether permissible — Criteria 
1. Article 95 of the Treaty (now, after 
amendment, Article 90 EC) precludes 
national legislation which prescribes a 
method of calculating taxable value for 
the purposes of turnover tax, stamp 
duty and a special consumption tax, 
where that method varies according to 
whether the taxes are to be levied on 
domestic products or imported pro­
ducts, with the result that the latter are 
taxed more heavily. 
(see para. 51, operative part 1) 
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DOUNIAS 
2. Article 95 of the Treaty (now, after 
amendment, Article 90 EC), or Arti­
cles 9 and 12 thereof (now, after 
amendment, Articles 23 EC and 25 
EC), preclude national legislation on 
the application of a tax, such as a 
regularising tax, under which that tax 
is payable on goods from another 
Member State but not on equivalent 
goods produced in the national terri­
tory. 
(see para. 51 , operative part 2) 
3. Regulation No 1224/80 on the valua­
tion of goods for customs purposes, 
which is based on Article 113 of the 
EC Treaty (now, after amendment, 
Article 133 EC), concerns solely trade 
with non-member countries and does 
not therefore apply to trade between 
Member States. 
(see para. 53, operative part 3) 
4. Pursuant to the principle of coopera­
tion laid down in Article 5 of the 
Treaty (now Article 10 EC), it is for 
the courts and tribunals of the Member 
States to ensure the legal protection 
which individuals derive from the 
direct effect of Community law. In the 
absence of Community rules governing 
a matter, it is for the domestic legal 
system of each Member State to lay 
down the detailed procedural rules 
governing actions for safeguarding 
rights which individuals derive from 
the direct effect of Community law. 
However, such rules must not be less 
favourable than those governing simi­
lar domestic actions nor render vir­
tually impossible or excessively diffi­
cult the exercise of rights conferred by 
Community law. 
(see paras 58, 69) 
5. Community law precludes national 
legislation which requires customs 
authorities to withhold imported goods 
in the event of disputes concerning the 
amount of tax demanded, unless the 
person concerned pays that amount, if 
that procedure is less favourable than 
the procedure applicable to similar 
domestic actions or if, in practice, it 
makes it virtually impossible or exces­
sively difficult for the person concerned 
to import goods from other Member 
States. 
(see para. 61 , operative part 4) 
6. The Treaty does not preclude a provi­
sion of national law under which 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-228/98 
disputes concerning the levying of taxes 
on imported products are to be settled 
by administrative procedure, which 
may have an effect on the importation 
of products, provided that there is no 
comparable procedure applicable to 
disputes concerning domestic products 
which is predisposed in their favour 
and that decisions by the administra­
tive authorities refusing or restricting 
imports are open to judicial review. 
(see para. 67, operative part 5) 
7. Community law does not preclude a 
provision of national law under which, 
in judicial proceedings in which it is 
sought to establish State liability with a 
view to obtaining compensation for 
damage caused by a breach of Com­
munity law, witness evidence is admis­
sible only in exceptional cases, provi­
ded that such a provision applies also 
to similar domestic actions and that it 
does not prevent individuals from 
asserting rights which they derive from 
the direct effect of Community law. 
(see para. 72, operative part 6) 
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