Articles 28 and 30 TFEU must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State under which a pecuniary charge, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, is imposed on electricity exported to another Member State or to a third country solely in cases where the electricity was generated within the national territory.

In that regard, it should be observed, first, that the charge at issue in the main proceedings constitutes a pecuniary charge unilaterally imposed by a Member State. As the purpose for which such a charge is imposed is irrelevant, it does not matter that it relates to charges for certain electricity network transmission services (see, to that effect, judgment of 21 September 2000, Michaïlidis, C‑441/98 and C‑442/98, EU:C:2000:479, paragraph 14 and the case-law cited).

Second, it must be observed that electricity constitutes a product within the meaning of EU law and that a tax imposed, not on a product as such, but on an activity necessary for doing business with that product, such as, as in the case in the main proceedings, network services, may come within the scope of provisions on the free movement of goods. Thus, where a tax is calculated on the basis of the number of kWh transmitted and not on the basis of the distance for which the electricity is transmitted or according to any other criterion directly connected with transmission, it must be treated as having been imposed on the product itself (see, to that effect, judgment of 17 July 2008, Essent Netwerk Noord and Others, C‑206/06, EU:C:2008:413, paragraphs 43 and 44 and the case-law cited).

It is necessary to determine, thirdly, whether that charge is levied on those goods by reason of the fact that they cross a border or whether, on the contrary, it results from a general system of internal taxation applied systematically, in accordance with the same objective criteria, to categories of goods irrespective of their origin or intended purpose.

In that regard, the Court has already held that the essential feature of a charge having equivalent effect to a customs duty which distinguishes it from a general internal tax is that the former is borne solely by a product which crosses a frontier, as such, whereas the latter is borne by imported, exported and domestic products (judgment of 2 October 2014, Orgacom, C‑254/13, EU:C:2014:2251, paragraph 28).

Nevertheless, even if the two categories of electricity were subject to the same system, it must also be noted that, in order to relate to a general system of ‘internal taxation’, within the meaning of Article 110 TFEU, the tax charge in question must impose the same duty on both domestic goods and identical exported goods at the same marketing stage and the chargeable event triggering the duty must also be identical (judgment of 2 October 2014, Orgacom, C‑254/13, EU:C:2014:2251, paragraph 29 and the case-law cited).

It should be noted, fourthly, that it is not clear from the documents submitted to the Court whether the pecuniary charge at issue in the main proceedings is levied by reason of inspections carried out in order to comply with obligations imposed by EU law or whether it constitutes consideration for a service actually provided to an operator, in an amount proportionate to that service.

In this respect, it should be pointed out that, while the Court has accepted that a charge that represents payment for a service actually provided to an economic operator required to pay it, in an amount that is proportionate to that service, does not constitute a charge having equivalent effect to a customs duty (judgment of 9 September 2004, Carbonati Apuani, C‑72/03, EU:C:2004:506, paragraph 31), the fact remains that, as the Advocate General noted in point 66 of her Opinion, in order for the charge to fall outwith the scope of Article 28 TFEU, the service provided must confer a specific benefit on the individual exporter, a benefit to the public interest being too general in nature and difficult to assess to be regarded as the consideration for a benefit actually conferred (see, to that effect, judgments of 1 July 1969, Commission v Italy, 24/68, EU:C:1969:29, paragraph 16, and of 27 September 1988, Commission v Germany, 18/87, EU:C:1988:453, paragraph 7).

(see paras 33, 34, 36, 37, 40, 42, 43, 57, operative part)