Keywords

Summary



Keywords

Customs union - Application of the customs rules - Transitional measures concerning trade with the German Democratic Republic in the agricultural and fisheries sector during the period preceding German Reunification - Regulation No 2252/90 - Exceptional nature - Federal Republic of Germany's obligation to verify that the conditions governing the applicability of the Regulation were fulfilled and to charge an import levy if necessary - Failure to fulfil that obligation

(Commission Regulation No 2252/90)

Summary

$$By granting for agricultural products, from 1 August 1990, a suspension of the charging of import levies and the application of other taxes and quantitative restrictions and measures having equivalent effect resulting from the common regime for such products in trade between the Community and the German Democratic Republic, subject to the conditions laid down in Article 1(2) of Regulation No 2252/90 concerning the methods of implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2060/90 on transitional measures concerning trade with the German Democratic Republic in the agriculture and fisheries sector, that Regulation introduced an exception to the Community customs rules normally applicable to products coming from non-member countries. It follows that, outside the scope of that exception, those rules were applicable until 3 October 1990, the date of German reunification.

Consequently, to enable it to verify whether agricultural products brought into the territory of the Community fulfilled any of the conditions laid down in the first subparagraph of Article 1(2) of Regulation No 2252/90 and, if they did not, to apply the various taxes and other measures resulting from the common regime for such products, the Federal Republic of Germany was under an obligation to maintain customs formalities, such as those needed for the application of Articles 2 and 3 of Regulation No 4151/88 laying down the provisions applicable to goods brought into the customs territory of the Community in inter-German trade, or to adopt other measures ensuring that Regulation No 2252/90 was correctly applied. By abolishing all those formalities and by failing to adopt such measures, the Federal Republic of Germany failed to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty.

Since those products, which had originally been imported into the Community and released for free circulation in the German Democratic Republic, had benefited from an export refund in the exporting Member State, they could not benefit from the suspension provided for by Article 1 of Regulation No 2252/90, with the result that an import levy had to be charged which, since the Community's own resources were involved, had to be credited to the Commission. Therefore, by allowing, contrary to the Regulation, goods for which a refund had been granted on their exportation from a Member State to be brought into the Federal Republic of Germany without a levy corresponding to the Community level of prices being charged and made available to the Community, the Federal Republic of Germany also failed to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty.

( see paras 39-40, 42, 48-49, 65, 67 and operative part )