Case C‑558/11

SIA Kurcums Metal

v

Valsts ieņēmumu dienests

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Augstākās tiesas Senāts)

‛Common Customs Tariff — Tariff classification — Combined Nomenclature — ‘Taifun’ composite cables manufactured in Russia, made of polypropylene and steel thread — Corrugated clips with rounded tips connected by means of a pin — Anti-dumping duties on imports of certain iron or steel ropes and cables originating in the Czech Republic, Russia, Thailand and Turkey’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Eighth Chamber), 15 November 2012

Common commercial policy — Protection against dumping — Imposition of definitive anti-dumping duties — Regulation No 1601/2001 — Scope — Cables consisting of both polypropylene and wound steel thread within subheading 7312 10 98 of the Combined Nomenclature — Included — No reference to that subheading in the Latvian version of the regulation — Editing mistake

Customs union — Common Customs Tariff — Classification of goods — Criteria — General rule 3(b) for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature — Not applicable to the classification of cables consisting of both polypropylene and wound steel thread

See the text of the decision. (see point 29)

See the text of the decision. (see point 30)

Subheading 5607 49 11 of the Combined Nomenclature in Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, as amended by Regulation No 1549/2006, must be interpreted as meaning that cables consisting of both polypropylene and wound steel thread, those two materials being combined in such a way that together they make up the cables in question, do not fall within that subheading. (see paras 33, 34, operative part 1)

General rule 3(b) for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature in Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, as amended by Regulation No 1549/2006, must be interpreted as meaning that the tariff classification of cables consisting of both polypropylene and wound steel thread is not to be carried out pursuant to that rule, subject to verification by the national court, in the light of all the elements of fact placed before it, that neither of the two materials of which those cables are composed in itself gives those cables their essential character. If neither of the two materials of which the cables are composed in itself gives them their essential character, in order to carry out the tariff classification of those cables, general rule 3(c) for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature must be applied. Under that rule, those cables must be classified under the heading of the Combined Nomenclature which occurs last in numerical order among those which equally merit consideration. (see paras 40, 42, operative part 2)

Article 1 of Regulation No 1601/2001 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and definitively collecting the provisional anti-dumping duty imposed on imports of certain iron or steel ropes and cables originating in the Czech Republic, Russia, Thailand and Turkey must be interpreted as meaning that cables consisting of both polypropylene and wound steel thread, on the assumption that they are covered by subheading 7312 10 98 of the Combined Nomenclature in Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, as amended by Regulation No 1549/2006, fall within the scope of that provision. In the light of the general scheme of Article 1 of Regulation No 1601/2001, the mere omission in the Latvian language version of that provision of a reference to subheading 7312 10 99 of the Combined Nomenclature in the version of Regulation No 2263/2000 amending Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87, an omission which is clearly an editing mistake, does not allow that provision to be interpreted as excluding from its scope the importation from Russia into Latvia of cables consisting of both polypropylene and wound steel thread, on the assumption that they are covered by subheading 7312 10 98 of the Combined Nomenclature. (see paras 50, 51, operative part 3)