Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 14 April 2005 in Case C-460/01: Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of the Netherlands (Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Regulations (EEC) Nos 2913/92 and 2454/93 — External Community transit procedure — Customs authorities — Procedures for collecting import duties — Time-limits — Non-compliance — Community own resources — Making available — Time-limit — Non-compliance — Default interest — Member State concerned — Default on payment)
Date: 2005-05-28
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, Netherlands, Union transit, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, customs regulations, simplification of formalities

28.5.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 132/1

I

(Information)

COURT OF JUSTICE

COURT OF JUSTICE

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Second Chamber)

of 14 April 2005

Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1182/71 of the Council of 3
June 1971 determining the rules applicable to periods, dates
and time-limits, when the principal of an external Community
transit operation has not, within three months of being noti-
fied by the office of departure that the consignment has not
been presented on time at the office of destination, provided
proof of the regularity of the transit operation in question,

in Case C-460/01: Commission of the European Commu-
nities v Kingdom of the Netherlands (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Regu-
lations (EEC) Nos 2913/92 and 2454/93 — External Com-
munity transit procedure — Customs authorities — Proce-
dures for collecting import duties — Time-limits — Non-
compliance — Community own resources — Making avail-
able — Time-limit — Non-compliance — Default interest —
Member State concerned — Default on payment)

(2005/C 132/01)

(Language of the case: Dutch)

In Case C-460/01, Commission of the European Communities
(Agents: G. Wilms and H.M.H. Speyart) v Kingdom of the Neth-
erlands (Agent: H.G. Sevenster) — action under Article 226 EC
for failure to fulfil obligations, brought on 28 November 2001
— the Court (Second Chamber), composed of C.W.A. Timmer-
mans, President of the Chamber, R. Schintgen and J.N. Cunha
Rodrigues
Judges; C- Stix-Hackl, Advocate
General; M.-F. Contet, Principal Administrator, for the Regis-
trar, gave a judgment on 14 April 2005, in which it:

(Rapporteur),

1. Declares that between 1 January 1991 and 31 December 1995:

— by failing to proceed with the entry in the accounts of the
customs debt and other relevant duties and communicate the
amount thereof to the debtor within three days of the time-
limit laid down in Articles 3(3) and 6(1) of Council Regu-
lation (EEC) No 1854/89 of 14 June 1989 on the entry in
the accounts and terms of payment of the amounts of the
import duties or export duties resulting from a customs debt,
and in Articles 218(3) and 221(1) of Council Regulation
(EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the
Community Customs Code, or at a later date pursuant to

— by failing to make available in due time to the Commission

the relevant Community own resources, and

— by refusing to pay the relevant default interest,

the Kingdom of the Netherlands has failed to fulfil its obligations
under the second sentence of the second subparagraph of Article
11a(2) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1062/87 of 27
March 1987 on provisions for the implementation of the Com-
munity transit procedure and for certain simplifications of that
procedure, as amended by Commission Regulation (EEC) No
2560/92 of 2 September 1992, the third sentence of Article
49(2) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1214/92 of 21
April 1992 on provisions for the implementation of the Com-
munity transit procedure and for certain simplifications of that
procedure, as amended by Commission Regulation (EEC) No
3712/92 of 21 December 1992, and the third sentence of
Article 379(2) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 of
2 July 1993 laying down provisions for the implementation of
Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Com-
munity Customs Code, and under Articles 2, 9, 10 and 11 of
Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1552/89 of 29 May
1989 implementing Decision 88/376/EEC, Euratom, on the
system of the Communities own resources;

2. Orders the Kingdom of the Netherlands to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 84 of 06.04.2002.