Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:1997:386
Date: 1997-07-17
Language of the case: German
Court formation: First Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Free movement of goods;Customs Union
Concepts: Specific customs procedures
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment
Free movement of goods — Trade with third countries — Outward processing relief arrange­
ments— Total or partial relieffrom import duties on compensating products —Determination of
value of temporary export goods — Factors to be taken into consideration — Processing costs —
Determination by 'reasonable means' — Concept — Scope
(Council Regulation No 2473/86, Art. 13(2), second para.)
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SUMMARY — CASE C-142/96
The reasonable means of determining out­
ward processing costs for the purposes of the
second method set out in Article 13(2) of
Regulation No 2473/86 on outward process­
ing relief arrangements and the standard
exchange system, implies the use of means
appropriate to the circumstances of each case
and can entail taking account of the transac­
tion value of the temporary export goods,
which comprises the purchase price and any
uplifts, even if the rate of duty is higher for
the unprocessed goods than for the compen­
sating products. The possibility of tariff
anomalies arising, and resulting in customs
advantages for the traders concerned, is a
risk inherent in the arrangements introduced
by the regulation on outward processing, the
primary aim of which is to prevent customs
duties from being charged on goods
exported from the European Community for
processing in respect of which Article 1 per­
mits total relief from import duties in certain
circumstances.
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