Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2016:115
Date: 2016-02-25
Language of the case: Dutch
Court formation: Tenth Chamber
Subject matter: Free movement of goods;Common customs tariff;Customs Union
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber), 25 February 2016 1. Customs union — Common Customs Tariff — Tariff headings — Classification of goods — Criteria — Characteristics and objective properties — Interpretation of tariff headings — Explanatory Notes to the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System and Explanatory Notes to the Combined Nomenclature — Authority — Scope 2. Customs union — Common Customs Tariff — Tariff headings — Parties for the purposes of Note 2 to Section XVI of the Combined Nomenclature — Meaning — ‘Video multiplexer’ with a principal function of recording and reproducing video within a security and surveillance system — Not included — Classification under heading 8521 of the Combined Nomenclature (Council Regulation No 2658/87, Annex I, Section XVI, Notes 2 and 3) 1. See the text of the decision. (see paras 44, 45) 2. 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, as amended by Regulation No 1214/2007, must be interpreted as meaning that a product such as the ‘video multiplexer’ must, subject to the national court’s assessment of all the facts before it, be classified in heading 8521 of that nomenclature. It follows from the actual wording of Combined Nomenclature headings 8517, 8521, 8531 and 8543 and the relevant Explanatory Notes that the function of the product concerned is crucial for its classification in one of those headings. In addition, Note 3 to Section XVI of the Combined Nomenclature, which headings 8517, 8521 and 8531 of that nomenclature come under, states that ‘machines designed for the purpose of performing two or more complementary or alternative functions are to be classified as if consisting only of that component or as being that machine which performs the principal function’. In that respect, the ‘video multiplexer’, having regard to its objective characteristics and properties and its intended purpose, has a principal function of recording and reproducing video within a security and surveillance system. The other functions fulfilled by the video multiplexer, that is to say, the alarm and network functions, are merely ancillary functions intended to improve the functioning of the system in which the video multiplexer is incorporated. Finally, the ‘video multiplexer’ cannot be regarded as a ‘part of a machine’ for the purposes of Note 2 to Section XVI of the Combined Nomenclature. In that regard, in order to be able to classify an article as a ‘part’, it is not sufficient to show that, without that article, the machine is not able to function properly. It remains necessary to establish that the mechanical or electrical functioning of the machine in question is dependent upon that product. Even though the ‘video multiplexer’ is part of a closed circuit video-surveillance system, the detection apparatuses used in that system may fulfil their function without a video multiplexer. In addition, the mechanical and electrical functioning of those apparatuses is not dependent on the ‘video multiplexer’ being present. (see paras 47, 53, 55, 56, 62-65, 72, operative part)