Judgment;Summary — ECLI:EU:C:2023:427
Date: 2023-05-25
Language of the case: Danish
Court formation: Sixth Chamber
Subject matter: Free movement of goods;Common customs tariff;Customs Union
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Denmark

Summary C-368/22 – 1 
Case C-368/22 
Summary of the request for a preliminary ruling pursuant to Article 98(1) of 
the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice 
Date lodged:  
8 June 2022 
Referring court:  
Vestre Landsret (Denmark) 
Date of the decision to refer:  
9 May 2022 
Applicant: 
Skatteministeriet (Danish Ministry of Taxation) 
Defendant:  
Danish Fluid System Technologies A/S  
  
Subject matter of the main proceedings 
The dispute in the main proceedings concerns whether five of the defendant’s 
imported ‘tube or pipe fittings’ should be classified as sleeves under subheading 
7307 22 10 90, at a customs duty rate of 0%, or as other threaded articles under 
subheading 7307 29 10 90, at a customs duty rate of 3.7%. 
The question referred for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of the 
Combined Nomenclature (‘the CN’) in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) 
No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the 
Common Customs Tariff, as amended successively by the Commission 
regulations. 
Subject matter and legal basis of the request 
Interpretation of subheadings 7307 22 10 and 7307 29 10 of the CN. The 
reference is made pursuant to Article 267 TFEU. 
EN 
SUMMARY OF THE REQUEST FOR A PRELIMINARY RULING – CASE C-368/22 
 
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Question referred for a preliminary ruling 
‘Is subheading 7307 22 10 of the Combined Nomenclature of the Common 
Customs Tariff, as amended by Annex I to Commission Regulation (EU) 
No 861/2010 of 5 October 2010 amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) 
No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common 
Customs Tariff, to be interpreted as covering articles such as those at issue in the 
main proceedings?’ 
Provisions of European Union law relied on 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical 
nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, as subsequently amended (OJ 
1987 L 256, p. 463); Annex I, which contains the CN; CN section XV, chapter 73, 
heading 7307. 
Commission Regulation (EU) No 861/2010 of 5 October 2010 amending Annex I 
to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature 
and on the Common Customs Tariff (OJ 1987 L 256, p. 1). 
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1001/2013 of 4 October 2013, 
Part One, Section IA, general interpretative rule 3(a) (OJ 2013 L 290, p. 11). 
Explanatory notes on the CN; notes on subheadings 7307 11 10, 7307 11 90 and 
7307 23 90. 
Explanatory notes on WCO’s Harmonized System (HS); notes on heading 7307. 
Judgment of 22 November 2012, Digitalnet and Others, Joined Cases C-320/11, 
C-330/11, C-382/11 and C-383/11, EU:C:2012:745, paragraph 38. 
Judgment of 10 December 2015, TSI GmbH, C-183/15, EU:C:2015:808, 
paragraphs 27 to 29. 
Judgment of 13 July 2006, Uroplasty BV, C-514/04, EU:C:2006:464, 
paragraph 56. 
Judgment of 12 July 2018, Profit Europe NV, Joined Cases C-397/17 and 
C-398/17, EU:C:2018:564. 
Judgment of 26 May 2016, Invamed Group, C-198/15, EU:C:2016:362, 
paragraph 18 and the case-law cited therein. 
Judgment of 12 April 2018, Medtronic GmbH, C-227/17, EU:C:2018:247, 
paragraph 34 et seq. 
SKATTEMINISTERIET 
 
3 
Provisions of national law relied on 
None. 
Succinct presentation of the facts and procedure in the main proceedings 
1 The dispute concerns whether five ‘tube or pipe fittings’ must be classified as 
sleeves under subheading 7307 22 10 90 at a customs duty rate of 0% or as other 
threaded articles under subheading 7307 29 10 90 at a rate of 3.7%. 
2 Danish Fluid System Technologies A/S’s activities involve importing tube fittings 
(articles) from the American manufacturer Swagelok and then re-exporting most 
of the imported articles, mainly to Russia and Ukraine. 
3 The tube fittings at issue are used to join specially manufactured tubes, which are 
used, inter alia, in the pharmaceutical industry and in the petrochemical, oil and 
gas industry. 
4 In the summer of 2013, the Danish tax authorities inspected various tube fittings 
imported by Danish Fluid System Technologies A/S from Swagelok AG in 
Switzerland and Central Swagelok in the United States. 
5 During that inspection, the Danish tax authorities removed for a post-import check 
10 tube fittings that were all declared to be threaded stainless steel sleeves under 
article code 7307 22 10 90 at a customs duty rate of 0%. 
6 The dispute before the Vestre Landsret (High Court of Western Denmark) relates 
solely to the tariff classification of the articles bearing the numbers 2 (SS-810-6 
Straight Fitting Union), 3 (SS-810-1-8 Straight Fitting Male Connector), 4 (SS-
810-7-8 Straight Fitting Female Connector), 5 (SS-810-R-6 Straight Fitting 
Reducer) and 10 (SS-8-TA 1-12 Tube Adapter Male). 
7 The following photographs of the articles at issue feature in Annex I to the request 
for a preliminary ruling: 
SUMMARY OF THE REQUEST FOR A PRELIMINARY RULING – CASE C-368/22 
 
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8 As part of the inspection, the Danish tax authorities asked the analytical institute 
Force Technology to examine the products concerned and propose their tariff 
classification. 
9 By its decision of 15 October 2013, the Danish tax authorities classified the five 
articles in question under subheading 7307 29 10 90, referring to the reports from 
the analytical institute, which considered that none of the five products at issue 
could be classified as ‘sleeves’. 
10 Danish Fluid System Technologies A/S brought an action against that decision 
before Denmark’s highest administrative authority in the field, the 
Landsskatteretten (National Tax Tribunal, Denmark), which, by decision of 
27 September 2019, found that the five tube fittings at issue should not be 
classified as other stainless steel threaded articles under heading 7307 29 10 90, 
but should be classified, on the basis of their objective characteristics and 
properties, under heading 7307 22 10 90 as threaded stainless steel sleeves, in 
accordance with general interpretative rules 1 and 6. 
11 By application of 19 December 2019, the Skatteministeriet (Danish Ministry of 
Taxation, ‘the Ministry’) brought an action against the decision of the National 
Tax Tribunal. 
SKATTEMINISTERIET 
 
5 
The essential arguments of the parties in the main proceedings 
12 It is common ground between the parties that the imported goods must be 
classified as steel tube or pipe fittings and that they therefore come under heading 
7307 of the Customs Tariff. However, an article must be classified under a 
subheading and the appropriate subheading determines the rate of customs duty 
applicable to the specific article. 
13 The Ministry asserts that the five articles must be classified under subheading 
7307 29 10 90. The five articles cannot be classified under heading 7307 22 10 90 
since they are not ‘sleeves’. 
14 For legal purposes, the classification of articles in the subheadings is determined 
by the subheading texts within the meaning of general interpretative rule 6. 
Therefore, what is vital in determining the subheading under which the articles 
must be classified is which of the subheading texts describes most accurately, 
according to its wording, the imported tube fittings. Since the articles are made of 
stainless steel, are definitely not flanges, elbows or bends, are not used for butt 
welding, and are all threaded, only two possible subheadings remain: subheading 
7307 22 10 90 ‘Threaded elbows, bends and sleeves – Sleeves’ or subheading 
7307 29 10 90 ‘Other – Threaded’. 
15 Neither the CN nor the explanatory notes contain a definition of the term ‘sleeve’, 
which must therefore be determined according to the usual meaning in everyday 
language. Therefore, the vital consideration for classifying articles under the 
subheading which, according to its wording, includes ‘sleeves’ is what is meant by 
‘sleeves’ in everyday language, taking into account the context in which that term 
is used in the customs tariff. 
16 In support of its plea in law claiming that the articles in question are not ‘sleeves’, 
the Ministry referred to the independent analytical institute Force Technology, 
which concluded that the five articles are not considered to be ‘sleeves’ because 
they are not short tube sections with an internal thread or without a thread used to 
join two tubes by screwing them into the tube section or by simply pushing them 
into the tube section. 
17 In support of that argument, the Ministry also refers to the dictionary definitions 
for ‘muffe’ and ‘nippel’ in Danish, in English (‘sleeve’, ‘nipple’ and ‘male 
threads’) and in German (‘Muffe’, ‘Nippel’), maintaining that the HS 
distinguishes between the terms ‘muffe’ and ‘nippel’, with the latter being, 
according to the HS explanatory notes, smooth or with an external thread, while 
the former has an internal thread. The Ministry also refers to the industry-based 
definition of ‘sleeves’. 
18 The five articles imported by Danish Fluid System Technologies A/S all have 
external threads and several of them are also fitted with ferrules. Therefore, those 
articles cannot be described as sleeves and cannot subsequently be classified as 
SUMMARY OF THE REQUEST FOR A PRELIMINARY RULING – CASE C-368/22 
 
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sleeves under subheading 7307 22 10 90. Rather, the articles must be classified as 
other threaded articles under heading 7307 29 10 90. 
19 Danish Fluid System Technologies A/S contends that the five straight tube fittings 
at issue have been correctly classified under [sub]heading 7307 22 10 90, as 
stipulated by the decision of the National Tax Tribunal, and that there is nothing 
to support the Ministry’s strict interpretation of the term ‘sleeve’. 
20 With reference to the explanatory notes on heading 7307 and on the HS, the 
defendant considers, as a whole, 
that the fact that the articles have external threads does not mean that they fall 
outside the definition of steel tube and pipe fittings under Common Customs 
Tariff heading 7307; 
that the fact that the articles in question have external threads does not mean that 
they fall outside the definition of sleeves featuring either in the descriptions 
under Common Customs Tariff heading 7307 or in the explanatory notes 
thereto, and 
that subheading 7307 22 10 90 is designated as tube or pipe fittings, which are 
threaded sleeves. Therefore, sleeves are interpreted by the Common 
Customs Tariff not only as tube or pipe fittings with an internal thread. 
21 It claims, on the basis of the objective characteristics and properties of the five 
products at issue, that they ought to be classified under heading 7307 22 10 90 as 
threaded stainless steel sleeves, as specified in general interpretative rules 1 and 6. 
22 The defendant also refers to the following binding tariff information (BTI) from 
the Irish, German and Spanish authorities, which, in its view, demonstrates the 
fact that the tax authorities of other EU countries classify products similar to the 
five straight tube fittings at issue in the present case under tariff heading 7307 22 
10 90: 
BTI issued by the Irish tax authorities, reference IR 08NT-14-284-03 (it 
specifically concerns Swagelok product SS-810-6, which is at issue in the 
current proceedings). 
BTI issued by the German tax authorities under reference DE14080/11 
BTI issued by the German tax authorities under reference DE20600/11 
BTI issued by the German tax authorities under reference DE20605/11 
BTI issued by the German tax authorities under reference DE23494/10 
BTI issued by the German tax authorities under reference DEK/1728/08 
SKATTEMINISTERIET 
 
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BTI issued by the Spanish tax authorities under reference ES-2014-000535, 
and 
BTI issued by the German tax authorities under reference DE16313/15. 
23 Moreover, none of the other European distributors of the American company 
Swagelok has been subject to the same strict interpretations of the term ‘sleeves’ 
in relation to heading 7307 22 10 90, which the Danish Ministry of Taxation 
asserts and enforces against the defendant company. 
24 With regard to the reference made by the Ministry of Taxation to dictionaries, the 
defendant disputes the fact that the selectively chosen dictionary quotations, 
including from Wikipedia, can be used as a legal basis for applying a strict 
interpretation as regards which products come under heading 7307, as well as the 
fact that the external customs border of the European Union must be designated 
on the basis of selectively chosen dictionary quotations. 
25 In conclusion, it is claimed that there is no legal basis for recovering customs duty 
from the company for the five straight tube fittings in the current proceedings. 
Succinct presentation of the reasoning in the request for a preliminary ruling 
26 The classification of goods must be carried out in accordance with Annex I to 
Council Regulation (EC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical 
nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, as subsequently amended. 
27 The High Court of Western Denmark considers that, in the light of the exchange 
of pleadings between the parties, there are doubts as to whether items such as the 
five articles at issue should be classified under subheading 7307 22 10 90 or 
subheading 7307 29 10 90. Therefore, the High Court of Western Denmark 
believes that it is necessary to request the Court of Justice of the European Union 
to provide clarification to it on the criteria and interpretative factors relating to the 
CN, which will enable the High Court to rule on the main proceedings, including 
by making a correct CN classification of the five articles.