Keywords

Summary



Keywords

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1. Agriculture ° Common organization of the markets ° Export refunds ° Application of Community regulations by the authorities of the Member States ° Interpretation by the Commission ° No binding effect

2. Agriculture ° Common organization of the markets ° Export refunds ° Conditions for granting ° Sound and fair marketable quality ° No Community regulations setting maximum permitted levels of radioactivity for the export of contaminated foodstuffs to non-member countries ° Application by analogy of the standards in force for imports of the same products from non-member countries ° Whether permissible

(Commission Regulations No 2730/79, Art. 15, and No 3665/87, Art. 13)

3. Agriculture ° Common organization of the markets ° Export refunds ° Conditions for granting ° Sound and fair marketable quality ° Assessment on the day of export

(Commission Regulation No 3665/87, Arts 3 and 13)

4. Customs union ° Export procedures ° Subsequent correction of declarations ° Correction relating to facts which could no longer be checked by the customs authorities ° Not permissible

(Council Directive 81/177, Art. 7(1)(a))

Summary

1. The application of Community provisions on export refunds is a matter for the national bodies appointed for that purpose. All the Commission can do is to draw the attention of the Member States to the Community rules which they must apply and, in cooperating with the Member States at the administrative level, give them its interpretation as to the application of those rules. That interpretation has, however, no binding force and neither the competent authorities of the Member States nor, still less, individuals, can be bound by it.

2. At a time when the only rules in existence at Community level as regards compliance with maximum radioactivity levels for foodstuffs were those relating to the import of certain groups of agricultural products from non-member countries, the competent authorities in the Member States were justified in applying by analogy those rules to exports of agricultural products to non-member countries, pursuant to Article 15 of Regulation No 2730/79 and Article 13 of Regulation No 3665/87. It was for the Member States themselves to set, for the grant of refunds on the export of agricultural products to non-member countries, maximum radioactivity levels for the purpose of determining whether agricultural products intended for export to non-member countries were "products of sound and fair marketable quality" within the meaning of those provisions, and that application by analogy of the maximum levels in force for imports, which ensured equal treatment for products whether imported or exported, as recommended by the Commission, cannot be challenged.

3. Article 13 of Regulation No 3665/87 must be applied in conjunction with Article 3(1) and (4) of that regulation and construed as prohibiting the granting of export refunds for products which are not of sound and fair marketable quality on the day of export, as defined in Article 3(1).

4. The conditions to which Article 7(1)(a) of Directive 81/77 on the harmonization of procedures for the export of Community goods subjects the correction of customs declarations must be strictly interpreted in order to prevent abuse. Where rectification is requested by the exporter after the goods have been released from the customs office, it may be permitted only if it relates to details which the customs authority can check as being correct without the goods being present. That is not the case where the correction is intended to mix into a single batch various batches of one product with different characteristics, one part of which did not satisfy certain requirements, so that the single batch did satisfy them, since the fact that the goods in the various batches were mixed after loading cannot ensure that the resulting mixture was sufficiently homogenous to comply, in its entirety, with the requirements in question. It is of no consequence in that respect that a third party carried out a check, since the customs authorities have exclusive competence in that area.