Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Own resources of the European Communities – Post-clearance recovery of import or export duties

(Council Regulation No 2913/92, Arts 217(1) and 221(1))

2. Own resources of the European Communities – Post-clearance recovery of import or export duties

(Council Regulations No 2913/92, Arts 217(1) and 221(1), and No 1150/2000, Art. 6)

3. Own resources of the European Communities – Post-clearance recovery of import or export duties – Requirement of entry in the accounts of the amount of duty before it is communicated to the debtor

(Council Regulation No 2913/92, Art. 221(1))

4. Own resources of the European Communities – Post-clearance recovery of import or export duties – Requirement of entry in the accounts of the amount of duty before it is communicated to the debtor

(Council Regulation No 2913/92, Art. 217)

5. Own resources of the European Communities – Repayment or remission of import or export duties – Requirement of entry in the accounts of the amount of duty before it is communicated to the debtor

(Council Regulation No 2913/92, Arts 217(1) and 221(1))

6. Own resources of the European Communities – Repayment or remission of import or export duties – Requirement of entry in the accounts of the amount of duty before it is communicated to the debtor

(Council Regulation No 2913/92, Arts 221(1) and (3) and 236(1), first subpara.)

Summary

1. Article 221(1) of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code must be interpreted as meaning that ‘entry in the accounts’ of the amount of duty to be recovered as referred to in that provision is the same as ‘entry in the accounts’ of that amount as defined in Article 217(1) of that regulation.

(see para. 17, operative part 1)

2. ‘Entry in the accounts’ within the meaning of Article 217(1) of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code must be distinguished from entry of established entitlements in the accounts for own resources as referred to in Article 6 of Regulation No 1150/2000 implementing Decision 94/728 on the system of the Communities’ own resources. Since Article 217 of Regulation No 2913/92 does not lay down any practical procedures for ‘entry in the accounts’ within the meaning of that provision or, accordingly, any minimum requirements of a technical or formal nature, that entry in the accounts, which may be effected by the entry of that amount in a record establishing a customs infringement, must be made in a way which ensures that the competent customs authorities enter the exact amount of the import duty or export duty resulting from a customs debt in the accounting records or on any other equivalent medium, so that, inter alia, the entry in the accounts of the amounts concerned may be established with certainty, including with regard to the person liable.

(see paras 18-20, 22-25, operative part 2)

3. Article 221(1) of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code must be interpreted as meaning that the amount of import or export duty due can be validly communicated to the debtor by the customs authorities, in accordance with appropriate procedures, only if the amount of that duty has been entered in the accounts beforehand by the authorities. Such a chronological order in the procedure for entry in the accounts and communication of the amount of duty must be observed if there are not to be differences in treatment as between the persons liable and if, moreover, the smooth operation of the customs union is not to be prejudiced.

In addition, Member States are not required to adopt specific procedural rules on the manner in which communication of the amount of import or export duties is to be made to the debtor where national procedural rules of general application can be applied to that communication, which ensure that the debtor receives adequate information and which enable him, with full knowledge of the facts, to defend his rights.

(see paras 26-30, operative part 3)

4. Community law does not preclude the national court from proceeding on the assumption, based on the declaration by the customs authorities, that the ‘entry in the accounts’ of the amount of import or export duty within the meaning of Article 217 of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code took place before that amount was communicated to the debtor, provided that the principles of effectiveness and equivalence are observed.

In the absence of Community rules governing a specific matter, it is for the domestic legal system of each Member State to designate the courts and tribunals having jurisdiction and to lay down the detailed procedural rules governing actions for safeguarding rights which individuals derive from the direct effect of Community law, provided that, applying the principle of equivalence, such rules are not less favourable than those governing similar domestic actions and that, applying the principle of effectiveness, they do not render in practice impossible or excessively difficult the exercise of rights conferred by Community law. Those considerations also apply with regard, specifically, to evidential rules – and in particular the rules on the allocation of the burden of proof applicable to actions relating to a breach of Community law.

Thus if, in a specific case, the national court finds that the fact of requiring the person liable for the customs debt to prove that it was not entered in the accounts is likely to make it impossible or excessively difficult for such evidence to be produced, since inter alia that evidence relates to data which the person liable could not possess, it is required, in order to ensure the principle of effectiveness, to use all procedures available to it under national law, including that of ordering the necessary measures of inquiry, in particular the production by one of the parties or a third party of a particular document.

(see paras 32-36, operative part 4)

5. Article 221(1) of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code must be interpreted as meaning that the communication of the amount of duty to be recovered must have been preceded by the entry in the accounts of that amount by the customs authorities of the Member State concerned and that, if it has not been entered in the accounts in accordance with Article 217(1) of that regulation, that amount may not be recovered by those authorities, which however remain entitled to proceed with a new communication of that amount, in accordance with the conditions laid down by Article 221(1) of the regulation and the limitation rules in force at the time the customs debt was incurred.

(see paras 37-39, operative part 5)

6. Although the amount of import duty or export duty remains ‘legally owed’ within the meaning of the first subparagraph of Article 236(1) of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code, even where that amount was communicated to the person liable without having been entered in the accounts beforehand in accordance with Article 221(1) of that regulation, the fact remains that, if such communication is no longer possible because the period laid down in Article 221(3) of that regulation has expired, that person must in principle be able to obtain repayment of that amount from the Member State which levied it.

In the absence of Community rules on the refund of charges levied though not due, it is for the domestic legal system of each Member State to designate the courts and tribunals having jurisdiction and to lay down the detailed procedural rules governing actions for safeguarding rights which individuals derive from Community law, provided, first, that such rules are not less favourable than those governing similar domestic actions (principle of equivalence) and, secondly, that they do not render in practice impossible or excessively difficult the exercise of rights conferred by Community law (principle of effectiveness).

(see paras 40-47, operative part 6)