Judgment of the Court (Eighth Chamber) of 28 April 2016 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Administratīvā apgabaltiesa — Latvia) — SIA ‘Oniors Bio’ v Valsts ieņēmumu dienests
(Case C-233/15) 1
(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 — Common Customs Tariff — Tariff classification — Combined Nomenclature — Subheadings 1517 90 91 and 1518 00 31 — Mixture of fluid vegetable oil, unprocessed, non-volatile, composed of rapeseed oil (88%) and sunflower oil (12%))
Language of the case: Latvian
Referring court
Administratīvā apgabaltiesa
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicant: SIA ‘Oniors Bio’
Defendant: Valsts ieņēmumu dienests
Operative part of the judgment
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 version resulting from Commission Regulation (EU) No 1006/2011 of 27 September 2011, must be interpreted as meaning that, in order to determine whether a mixture of vegetable oils such as that at issue in the main proceedings must be classified as an edible mixture of vegetable oils under CN subheading 1517 90 91 or as an inedible mixture of vegetable oils under CN subheading 1518 00 31, all the factors relevant to the case must be taken into account, in so far as they relate to the objective characteristics and properties inherent in that product. Among the relevant factors which may justify the classification of such a mixture as ‘inedible’, account should be taken of the information provided by the producer of that mixture in the context of the customs declaration, according to which, because of the characteristics of the process for its production, the presence of noxious substances in that mixture cannot be excluded. In that regard, the fact that an analysis of samples taken from such a mixture of vegetable oils has not shown that it contains any noxious substance does not suffice, by itself, to call into question the classification of the mixture in question as ‘inedible’. Such a consequence presupposes the existence of other relevant evidence capable of calling into question the accuracy of the information relating to the process for the production of the mixture in question, provided by its producer and included in that declaration, in accordance with Articles 62, 68 and 71 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 648/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 April 2005.
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1 OJ C 245, 27.7.2015.