Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2012:131
Date: 2012-03-08
Language of the case: German
Subject matter: Free movement of goods;Customs Union
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary – Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), 6 September 2012 Customs union – Incurrence of a customs debt as a result of a failure to satisfy one of the conditions for the placement of goods under the customs procedure in question – Failures which have no significant effect on the correct operation of the customs procedure – Scope – Delayed entry in stock records of information concerning the removal of non-Community goods from a customs warehouse – Not included – Re-exportation of the goods – Lack of effect (Council Regulation No 2913/92, as amended by Regulation No 648/2005, Art. 204(1)(a)) Article 204(l)(a) of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code, as amended by Regulation No 648/2005, must be interpreted as meaning that, in the case of non-Community goods, non-fulfilment of the obligation to enter the removal of the goods from the customs warehouse in the appropriate stock records, at the latest when the goods leave the customs warehouse, gives rise to a customs debt in respect of those goods, even if they have been re-exported. In that respect, the obligation to pay customs duties in such a case is not an administrative, fiscal or criminal sanction, but simply the consequence of a finding that the conditions required for the purpose of obtaining the advantage derived from application of the customs warehousing procedure have not been satisfied, which renders the suspension inapplicable and, as a consequence, justifies the imposition of customs duties. That procedure implies the grant of a conditional benefit which cannot be granted if the related conditions are not respected. (see paras 32, 35, operative part)