Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2006:383
Date: 2006-06-08
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Sixth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Free movement of goods;Common customs tariff;Customs Union
Concepts: The various tariff headings;Jurisdiction of the Court of Justice
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 1. Preliminary rulings – Jurisdiction of the Court – Limits (Art. 234 EC) 2. Common customs tariff – Tariff headings – Pizza mozzarella in block form stored for one to two weeks at a low temperature – Classification under subheading 0406 10 of the Combined Nomenclature 1. When the Court is requested to give a preliminary ruling on a matter of tariff classification, its task is to provide the national court with guidance on the criteria which will enable the latter to classify the products at issue correctly in the Combined Nomenclature, rather than to effect that classification itself, a fortiori since the Court does not necessarily have available to it all the information which is essential in that regard. In any event, the national court is in a better position to do so. (see para. 19) 2. Subheading 0406 10 of the Combined Nomenclature 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 1832/2002, must be interpreted as meaning that it applies to pizza mozzarella in block form that was stored after its manufacture for one to two weeks at 2 to 4°C unless that storage is sufficient for such mozzarella to undergo a process at the end of which it has acquired one or more new objective characteristics or properties, in particular with regard to its composition, appearance or taste. It is for the national court to determine whether those conditions are satisfied. (see para. 37, operative part)