Case C‑286/15

Valsts ieņēmumu dienests

v

SIA ‘Latvijas propāna gāze’

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Augstākā tiesa, Administratīvo lietu departaments)

‛Reference for a preliminary ruling — Common Customs Tariff — Tariff classification — Combined Nomenclature — Heading 2711 — Petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons — Material giving the essential character — Liquefied petroleum gas’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber), 26 May 2016

Customs union — Common Customs Tariff — Customs declaration — Documents to accompany the customs declaration — Obligation on a declarant of liquefied petroleum gas to indicate the percentage amount of the substance present in the greatest quantity in that product — None

Customs union — Common Customs Tariff — Tariff headings — Interpretation — Petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons — Essential character determined by all the components of the gas mixture together — Impossibility of determining the component giving the mixture its essential character — Presumption favouring the substance present in the greatest proportion in the mixture — Excluded

Rules 2(b) and 3(b) of the general rules for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature set out in Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, in the versions resulting from Regulation No 1031/2008 and Regulation No 948/2009, respectively, must be interpreted as meaning that, where the essential character of a gas mixture, such as a liquefied petroleum gas, is determined by all the components of that mixture together, so that no component may be identified as the factor giving it its essential character and, in any event, the exact quantity of each of the components of the liquefied petroleum gas at issue may not be determined, a presumption that the factor which gives the goods their essential character, within the meaning of rule 3(b) of those general rules, is the substance which is present in the greatest proportion in the mixture must not be used. (see para. 30, operative part 1)

See the text of the decision. (see paras 32, 33)

The Combined Nomenclature set out in Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87, on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, as amended by Regulations No 1031/2008 and No 948/2009, must be interpreted as meaning that a liquefied petroleum gas, containing 0.32% methane, ethane and ethylene, 58.32% propane and propylene and no more than 39.99% butane and butylene, and in respect of which it may not be determined which of its constituent substances gives it its essential character, comes under the sub-heading 2711 19 00, as ‘Petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons, Liquefied, Other’. Indeed, since such a mixture of liquefied petroleum gas cannot be classified by reference to rule 3(b) of the general rules for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature, rule 3(c) of those rules — which states that the goods must be classified under the heading which occurs last in numerical order among those which equally merit consideration according to which the goods must be classified, that is, in the present case, under sub-heading 2711 19 00 of the Combined Nomenclature as ‘other liquefied petroleum gas’ — must be applied. (see paras 36, 37, operative part 2)