Keywords

Summary



Keywords

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1. Free movement of goods ° Customs duties ° Charges having equivalent effect ° Definition ° Ad valorem charge levied by a Member State on goods imported from other Member States by reason of the entry of those goods into a region of its territory ° Included ° Identical levy on goods of national origin ° Not relevant

(EEC Treaty, Arts 9, 12 and 13)

2. International agreements ° EEC-Sweden Agreement ° Elimination of obstacles to trade by means of the elimination of customs duties and charges having equivalent effect ° Implications ° Interpretation of Article 6 of the agreement based on that of Articles 9, 12 and 13 of the Treaty ° Levy by a Member State of an ad valorem tax on goods imported from Sweden by reason of their entry into a region of its territory ° Not permissible ° Identical levy on goods of national origin ° Not relevant

(EEC Treaty, Arts 9, 12 and 13; EEC-Sweden Agreement, Art. 6)

3. Preliminary rulings ° Interpretation ° Temporal effects of judgments providing interpretations ° Retroactive effect ° Limits ° Legal certainty ° Discretion of the Court

(EEC Treaty, Art. 177)

Summary

1. The dock dues imposed in the French overseas departments under a system whereby a charge, proportional to the customs value of goods, is levied by a Member State on goods imported from another Member State by reason of their entry into a region of the territory of the former Member State, constitute a charge having an effect equivalent to a customs duty on imports and are prohibited by Articles 9, 12 and 13 of the Treaty, notwithstanding the fact that the charge is also imposed on goods entering that region from another part of the same State.

The justification for the prohibition of any customs duty applicable to goods moving between Member States is that any pecuniary charge imposed on goods by reason of the fact that they cross a frontier impedes the movement of such goods and a charge levied at a regional frontier by reason of the introduction of products into a region of a Member State constitutes an obstacle to the free movement of goods which is at least as serious as a charge levied at the national frontier by reason of the introduction of the products into the whole territory of a Member State. The effect of such a regional levy on the unity of the Community customs territory is not altered by the fact that it is also charged on goods from the other parts of the territory of the Member State in question.

2. The Agreement between the European Economic Community and Sweden has as its aim to consolidate and to extend the economic relations existing between the parties and, to this end, to eliminate the obstacles to substantially all their trade, in accordance with the provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) concerning the establishment of free-trade areas. In that context, elimination both of customs duties on imports and of charges having equivalent effect, which are closely linked to them, is of prime importance. The Agreement would thus be deprived of much of its effectiveness if the term "charge having equivalent effect" contained in Article 6 of the Agreement, which prohibits the levying of such charges, were to be interpreted as having a more limited scope than the same term appearing in the EEC Treaty.

Consequently, Article 6 of the Agreement is to be interpreted as prohibiting the levying by a Member State on goods imported from Sweden of a charge, such as the dock dues imposed in the French overseas departments, which is proportional to the customs value of goods and which is levied by reason of their entry into a region of that Member State, notwithstanding the fact that the charge is also imposed on goods entering that region from another part of the territory of the Member State concerned.

3. In exercising the power of interpretation which Article 177 confers upon it, it is only exceptionally, and solely in the actual judgment ruling upon the interpretation sought, that the Court may, in application of the general principle of legal certainty inherent in the Community legal order, be moved to restrict for any person concerned, who intends calling in question legal relationships established in good faith, the opportunity of relying upon the provisions thus interpreted. It is, in this respect, necessary to bear in mind that although the practical consequences of any judicial decision must be weighed carefully, the Court cannot go so far as to diminish the objectivity of the law and compromise its future application on the ground of the possible repercussions which might result, as regards the past, from a judicial decision.

Given that the specific identity of the French overseas departments and the particular characteristics of the dock dues have created a situation of uncertainty regarding the lawfulness of the charge at issue under Community law, an uncertainty which, as regards Community institutions, was reflected in conduct which may have led the French authorities to believe that the levying of the charge was in conformity with Community law, overriding considerations of legal certainty preclude legal relationships whose effects have been exhausted in the past from being called into question, which would retroactively upset the system for financing the local authorities concerned.

It is for that reason that it must be held that neither the provisions of the EEC Treaty nor Article 6 of the Agreement between the Community and Sweden may be relied upon in support of claims for refund of amounts paid by way of charges such as dock dues before the date of the judgment declaring such charges to be impermissible under Community law, except by claimants having, before that date, initiated legal proceedings or raised an equivalent claim, it being understood that limitation of the temporal effects of that judgment does not apply to claims for refunds of amounts paid after delivery thereof in respect of earlier imports.