Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2015:268
Date: 2015-04-23
Language of the case: Romanian
Court formation: Tenth Chamber
Subject matter: Free movement of goods;Common customs tariff;Customs Union
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Romania

summary of the subject-matter of the dispute and the relevant findings of fact as determined by the referring court or tribunal, or, at least, an account of the facts on which the questions are based. 63 It must be noted, firstly, that the only relevant findings of fact set out in the request for a preliminary ruling concern the facts, on the one hand, that ALKA did not seek preferential customs treatment when making its customs declaration and, on the other, that ALKA holds the certificates of origin on the basis of which the imported seeds were released. 64 Next, when questioned in that regard by the Court, ALKA, the Romanian Government and the Commission were not able to identify a preferential tariff scheme in EU law which could apply to imports of pumpkin seeds from China. 65 Finally, and notwithstanding a written request from the Court to that effect, ALKA has not even claimed that it sent a certificate proving the preferential origin of the pumpkin seeds at issue in the main proceedings to the national authorities. 66 It follows from the foregoing that the fourth question must be rejected as inadmissible, since the request for a preliminary ruling does not contain sufficient relevant findings of fact on which that question is based. Costs 67 Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main proceedings, a step in the action pending before the national court, the decision on costs is a matter for that court. Costs incurred in submitting observations to the Court, other than the costs of those parties, are not recoverable. On those grounds, the Court (Tenth Chamber) hereby rules: It is for the referring court, in order to make a tariff classification of the pumpkin seeds at issue in the main proceedings, to ascertain whether those seeds are normally used for the extraction of edible or industrial oils and fats, but are not covered by headings 1201 to 1206 of the Combined Nomenclature set out 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, in the versions resulting, successively, from Commission Regulation (EC) No 1549/2006 of 17 October 2006 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1214/2007 of 20 September 2007. If that is the case, those seeds must be classified under heading 1207 of the Combined Nomenclature because they are oilseeds, whether or not they are actually used for the extraction of edible or industrial oils and fats or for sowing or human consumption. If that is not the case, those seeds will come under heading 1209 of the Combined Nomenclature if they could still be germinated when they were imported, whether or not they are actually used for the extraction of edible or industrial oils and fats or for sowing or human consumption, or under heading 1212 of the Combined Nomenclature if they could not still be germinated. [Signatures] * Language of the case: Romanian.