Opinion of the Court — ECLI:EU:C:2014:2454
Date: 2014-12-18
Language of the case: Bulgarian;Czech;Danish;German;Greek;English;Estonian;Finnish;French;Hungarian;Italian;Latvian;Lithuanian;Maltese;Dutch;Polish;Portuguese;Romanian;Slovak;Slovenian;Spanish;Swedish
Court formation: Full Court
Subject matter: External relations;Common foreign and security policy;International agreements;Fundamental rights
Procedure: Request for an Opinion - agreement incompatible

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), 6 February 2014 1. Customs union — Common Customs Tariff — Tariff headings — Interpretation — Explanatory notes for the Combined Nomenclature — Explanatory notes of the World Customs Organisation — Absence of binding force (Council Regulation No 2658/87, Annex I, General Rule 2(a)) 2. Customs union — Common Customs Tariff — Tariff headings — Article consisting of an upper, an outer sole and an inner sole — Article presented unassembled having the essential character of footwear — Conditions — Classification in tariff heading 6404 of the Combined Nomenclature (Council Regulation No 2658/87, Annex I, General Rule 2(a)) 1. See the text of the decision. (see paras 30-32) 2. General Rule 2(a) for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature set out in Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff must be interpreted as meaning that an upper, an outer sole and an inner sole, as an article presented unassembled having the essential character of footwear, come under heading 6404 of the combined nomenclature where, following their import, a counter must be inserted into the upper and the outer sole and the upper must be roughed for the purpose of their assembly. The Explanatory Notes to the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System which are an important means of ensuring the uniform application of the Common Customs Tariff and, as such, may be regarded as useful aids to its interpretation, state that articles presented unassembled or disassembled means articles the components of which are to be assembled, provided only assembly operations are involved. In addition, the different components are not to be subjected to any further working operation for completion into the finished state. As regards the roughing of the upper and the outer sole and the insertion of the counter, none of these operations can be regarded as a working operation for completion into the finished state of footwear. (see paras 39, 40, 41, 47, 49, 52, operative part)