Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1 Own resources of the European Communities - Post-clearance recovery of import or export duties - Error in the tariff classification in the declaration for release into free circulation - Levying of customs duties suspended within the framework of the tariff ceilings applicable at the date on which that declaration was accepted and re-established when the error was detected - Amount of customs duties to be calculated without taking that suspension into account

(Council Regulation No 1697/79, Art. 2(1))

2 Own resources of the European Communities - Reimbursement or remission of import duties - Commission decision - Scope

(EC Treaty, Art. 177; Council Regulations No 1430/79 and No 1697/79)

Summary

1 Article 2(1) of Regulation No 1697/79 on the post-clearance recovery of import duties or export duties which have not been required of the person liable for payment on goods entered for a customs procedure involving the obligation to pay such duties must be construed as meaning that, where a post-clearance inspection has revealed an error in the tariff classification of goods indicated in a declaration for release into free circulation, and where the levying of customs duties on products covered by the heading under which those goods ought to have been classified was suspended at the date on which that declaration was accepted but had been re-established when the error was detected, the customs authorities must not take account of that suspension in order to recalculate the amount of the customs duties legally due on the date on which the declaration was accepted.

Since, at the date on which the declaration for release into free circulation was accepted, tariff suspension was granted only within the framework of tariff ceilings, the overall scheme of such a system requires the strictest possible adherence to the ceilings established. If it were to be accepted that ceilings may be exceeded retroactively where goods are reclassified following the discovery of an error by the importer in the tariff classification of goods, that would have to be accepted irrespective of the quantity and value of the goods in question. Such an interpretation would negate the effectiveness of both the regulation establishing the tariff ceilings and that re-establishing the levying of customs duties. Furthermore, the fact that a request could be made for the ceilings to be exceeded retroactively could give rise to abuse.

2 When the Commission, after consultation with the Customs Code Committee, has delivered a decision addressed to a Member State holding that there was, in a specific case, no justification for granting remission of import duties pursuant to the provisions of Regulation No 1430/79 on the repayment or remission of import or export duties, and when that decision does not contain any legal or factual indication relating to the legal basis for effecting post-clearance recovery of the import duties concerned under Regulation No 1697/79 on the post-clearance recovery of import duties or export duties which have not been required of the person liable for payment on goods entered for a customs procedure involving the obligation to pay such duties, a national court may rule on the latter question, having recourse, if appropriate, to the procedure under Article 177 of the Treaty.