Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2007:138
Date: 2007-03-06
Language of the case: Danish
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: Denmark

Summary of the Judgment Common Customs Tariff – Tariff headings Combined cards designed to be inserted into portable computers which, because they have a modem function, can be used for data exchange over external networks, must, after 1 January 1996, be classified as data-processing machines under heading No 8471 of the Combined Nomenclature of the Common Customs Tariff, contained 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 3009/95. They fulfil the three conditions laid down by Note 5(B) to Chapter 84 of the Combined Nomenclature since they are used solely when inserted in portable computers, they work only if they are connected to that type of computer and are capable of converting incoming signals into data usable by an automatic data-processing machine and outgoing signals into data usable externally, whether they are transmitted across a local network (LAN) or an external network (WAN). Such cards do not perform a ‘specific function’ within the meaning of Note 5(E) to Chapter 84 of the Combined Nomenclature. The ‘specific function’ performed by a machine working with an automatic data-processing machine must be a function ‘other than data-processing’. Since the combined cards are designed to transfer data between a number of computers and, in order to do so, render incoming external signals comprehensible to the computer and transform outgoing signals processed by it into signals usable externally, regardless of whether the signal received or emitted is analogue or digital, the function which they perform consists of data-processing. (see paras 22, 25, 30, 32, operative part)