Action brought on 7 March 2019 — European Commission v United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

(Case C-213/19)

(2019/C 164/40)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: L. Flynn, F. Clotuche-Duvieusart, Agents)

Defendant: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The applicant claims that the Court should:

— declare that: 1. by failing to enter into the accounts the correct amounts of customs duties and to make available the correct amount of traditional own resources and VAT-based own resources in respect of certain imports of textiles and footwear from the People’s Republic of China, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 2 and 8 of Council Decision 2014/335 (1), Articles 2 and 8 of Council Decision 2007/436 (2), Articles 2, 6, 9, 10, 12 and 13 of Council Regulation 609/2014 (3), Articles 2, 6, 9, 10, 11 and 17 of Council Regulation 1150/2000 (4), Article 2 of Council Regulation 1553/89 (5), as well as Article 105(3) of Council Regulation 952/2013 (6), and Article 220(1) of Council Regulation 2913/92 (7); as a consequence of its failure to fulfil its obligations under Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union, Articles 325 and 310(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Articles 3 and 46 of Regulation 952/2013, Article 13 of Council Regulation 2913/92, Article 248(1) of Commission Regulation 2454/93 (8), Article 244 of Commission Implementing Regulation 2015/2447 (9), and Articles 2(1)(b) and (d), 83, 85-87 and 143(1)(d) and (2) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC (10); The corresponding traditional own resources losses to be made available to the Union budget (minus collection costs) amount to: — EUR 496,025,324.30 in 2017 (until 11 October 2017 included); — EUR 646,809,443.80 in 2016; — EUR 535,290,329.16 in 2015; — EUR 480,098,912.45 in 2014; — EUR 325,230,822.55 in 2013; — EUR 173,404,943.81 in 2012; — EUR 22,777,312.79 in 2011. 2. by failing to provide full information required by the Commission services necessary for establishing the amount of TOR losses, and by not providing as requested the content of the legal assessment of HMRC's legal department or the motivation of the decision that led to the cancellation of the established customs debts, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union, and Articles 2(2) and (3)(d) of Council Regulation 608/2014 (11); and

— order the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

Despite repeated warnings about the risk of fraud by OLAF and the Commission, the United Kingdom failed to put in place risk-based approaches in customs control to prevent the release into free circulation of undervalued goods into the Union (specifically, footwear and textiles exported from the People’s Republic of China) until 12 October 2017. As a result of that inaction in the face of repeated warnings, the United Kingdom failed to take the risk-based measures required under the Union’s customs and own resources legislation. That failure to take appropriate action also affected the correct application of the Union’s VAT rules. There have been exceptionally high losses to the Union budget caused by the United Kingdom’s breach of Union law and the resulting levels of imports of undervalued goods to that Member State. Because the United Kingdom did not follow the Commission's recommendations, in contrast to other Member States, the United Kingdom attracted more undervalued trade. Those exceptionally high losses also affected drastically fair burden-sharing among Member States, as they had to be compensated by correspondingly higher GNI contributions by the other Member States to the Union.

(1) 2014/335/EU, Euratom: Council Decision of 26 May 2014 on the system of own resources of the European Union (JO 2014, L 168, p. 105).

(2) 2007/436/EC,Euratom: Council Decision of 7 June 2007 on the system of the European Communities’ own resources (JO 2007, L 163, p. 17).

(3) Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 609/2014 of 26 May 2014 on the methods and procedure for making available the traditional, VAT and GNI-based own resources and on the measures to meet cash requirements (Recast) (JO 2014, L 168, p. 39).

(4) Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 of 22 May 2000 implementing Decision 94/728/EC, Euratom on the system of the Communities' own resources (JO 2000, L 130, p. 1).

(5) Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1553/89 of 29 May 1989 on the definitive uniform arrangements for the collection of own resources accruing from value added tax (JO 1989, L 155, p. 9).

(6) Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 October 2013 laying down the Union Customs Code (JO 2013, L 269, p. 1).

(7) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (JO 1992, L 302, p. 1).

(8) Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 of 2 July 1993 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code (JO 1993, L 253, p. 1).

(9) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code (JO 2015, L 343, p. 558).

(10) Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (JO 2006, L 347, p. 1).

(11) Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 608/2014 of 26 May 2014 laying down implementing measures for the system of own resources of the European Union (JO 2014, L 168, p. 29).