Case C-140/05: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 5 October 2006 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Unabhängiger Finanzsenat, Außenstelle Klagenfurt, Austria) — Amalia Valeško v Zollamt Klagenfurt (Act of Accession to the European Union — Transitional measures — Annex XIII — Taxation — Cigarettes imported from Slovenia — Import into Austria in travellers' personal luggage — Exemption from excise duty limited to certain quantities — Possibility of maintaining until 31 December 2007 the quantitative limits applied to imports from third countries — Directive 69/169/EEC)
Date: 2006-12-02
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: accession to the European Union, derogation from EU law, excise duty, exemption from customs duties, interpretation of the law, quantitative restriction, tax system, tobacco industry

2.12.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 294/13

Austrian VAT not appearing on invoices or in other documents
serving as invoices, the Republic of Austria has failed to fulfil its
obligations under Articles 18(1)(a) and (2) and 22(3) to (5) of
Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the
harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turn-
over taxes — Common arrangement of value added tax: uniform
basis of assessment;

residue limits of veterinary medicinal products in foodstuffs of
animal origin (OJ 1990 L 224, p. 1) — Veterinary checks —
Redispatch of products that do not satisfy the import condi-
tions — Seizure and destruction — Protection of the interests
of third countries even in the absence of Community interest

2. Dismisses the action as to the remainder;

Operative part of the judgment

3. Orders the Republic of Austria to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 182, 23.07.2005.

Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 28 September
2006 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the College
van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven — the Netherlands) —
NV Raverco (C-129/05), Coxon & Chatterton Ltd (C-
130/05) v Minister van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwa-
liteit

(Joined Cases C-129/05 and C-130/05) (1)

(Directive 97/78/EC — Regulation (EEC) No 2377/90 —
Veterinary checks — Products entering the Community from
third countries — Redispatch of products that do not satisfy
the import conditions — Seizure and destruction)

(2006/C 294/21)

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

College van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: NV Raverco, Coxon & Chatterton Ltd

Defendant: Minister van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — College van Beroep voor
het bedrijfsleven — Interpretation of Articles 17(2) and 22(2)
of and Annex I to Council Directive 97/78/EC of 18 December
1997 laying down the principles governing the organisation of
veterinary checks on products entering the Community from
third countries (OJ 1998 L 24, p. 9) — Interpretation of
Council Regulation No 2377/90 of 26 June 1990 laying down
a Community procedure for the establishment of maximum

1. Article 17(2)(a) of Council Directive 97/78/EC of 18 December
1997 laying down the principles governing the organisation of
veterinary checks on products entering the Community from third
countries is to be interpreted as meaning that objection to the
redispatch of a consignment that does not satisfy the import condi-
tions must be based on the failure to meet Community require-
ments.

2. Article 22(2) of Directive 97/78, read in conjunction with Article
5 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2377/90 of 26 June 1990
laying down a Community procedure for the establishment of
maximum residue limits of veterinary medicinal products in food-
stuffs of animal origin, is to be interpreted as meaning that it
imperatively requires the competent veterinary authorities to seize
and destroy products which,
following veterinary inspections
carried out pursuant to that directive, are revealed to contain a
substance listed in Annex IV to that regulation.

(1) OJ C 143, 11.06.2005.

Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 5 October
2006 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Unab-
hängiger Finanzsenat, Außenstelle Klagenfurt, Austria) —
Amalia Valeško v Zollamt Klagenfurt

(Case C-140/05) (1)

(Act of Accession to the European Union — Transitional
measures — Annex XIII — Taxation — Cigarettes imported
from Slovenia — Import into Austria in travellers' personal
luggage — Exemption from excise duty limited to certain
quantities — Possibility of maintaining until 31 December
2007 the quantitative limits applied to imports from third
countries — Directive 69/169/EEC)

(2006/C 294/22)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Unabhängiger Finanzsenat, Außenstelle Klagenfurt

C 294/14

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

2.12.2006

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Amalia Valeško

Defendant: Zollamt Klagenfurt

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Unabhängiger Finanz-
senat, Außenstelle Klagenfurt (Austria) — Interpretation of Arti-
cles 23 EC, 25 EC and 26 EC and of Annex XIII: List referred
to in Article 24 of the Act of Accession: Slovenia; Heading 6.
Taxation, paragraph 2, of the Act concerning the conditions of
accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the
Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of
Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the
Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak
Republic and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the
European Union is founded (OJ 2003 L 236, p. 906) — Main-
tenance by the Member States during the transition period of
the same quantitative limits,
for cigarettes imported from
Slovenia without payment of additional excise duty as those
applied with regard to cigarette imports from third countries
— Limitation of the quantity which may be imported by an
individual who is resident on national territory that is stricter
than that fixed for most third countries

Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 28 September
2006 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the
Rechtbank 's-Hertogenbosch — Netherlands) — Jean Leon
Van Straaten v Staat der Nederlanden and Republiek Italië

(Case C-150/05) (1)

(Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement — Ne
bis in idem principle — Meaning of ‘the same acts’ and of
‘trial disposed of’ — Exporting in one State and importing in
another State — Acquittal of the accused)

(2006/C 294/23)

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Rechtbank 's-Hertogenbosch

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Jean Leon Van Straaten

Defendants: Staat der Nederlanden and Republiek Italië

Operative part of the judgment

Re:

the Republic of Latvia,

1) Section 6(2) of Annexe XIII to the Act concerning the conditions
of accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the
Republic of Cyprus,
the Republic of
Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the
Republic of Poland,
the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak
Republic and the adjustments to the treaties on which the Euro-
pean Union is founded is to be interpreted as meaning that it does
not preclude the Republic of Austria from maintaining, on a tran-
sitional basis, its legislation containing an exemption from excise
duty reduced to 25 cigarettes for cigarettes coming from Slovenia
imported into the Republic of Austria in the personal luggage of
travellers resident in that Member State and entering it directly via
its land border or inland waters.

2) Articles 23 EC, 25 EC and 26 EC must be interpreted as
meaning that they do not prohibit national
legislation such as
that at issue in the main proceedings, under which the exemption
from excise duty for cigarettes imported in travellers' personal
luggage is limited to 25 units on entry to the Republic of Austria
from certain other Member States, in particular the Republic of
Slovenia, notwithstanding the fact that, following the last enlarge-
ment of the European Union, that reduced exemption no longer
applies to any third country with the sole exception of the Swiss
Samnauntal customs enclave, since imports of cigarettes from
third countries generally benefit from an exemption for 200 units.

(1) OJ C 143, 11.06.2005.

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Rechtbank 's-Hertogen-
bosch — Interpretation of Article 54 of the Convention imple-
menting the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 between
the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union,
the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on
the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders (OJ
2000 L 239, p. 19) — Ne bis in idem principle — ‘Same acts’
and ‘trial disposed of’ — Offence prosecuted as acts of
exporting in one State and as acts of importing in another —
Whether a trial
is finally disposed of in the case where the
person charged is acquitted

Operative part of the judgment

1. Article 54 of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agree-
ment of 14 June 1985 between the Governments of the States of
the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany
and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at
their common borders, signed on 19 June 1990 in Schengen,
must be interpreted as meaning that:

— the relevant criterion for the purposes of the application of that
article is identity of the material acts, understood as the exis-
tence of a set of facts which are inextricably linked together,
irrespective of the legal classification given to them or the legal
interest protected;

— in the case of offences relating to narcotic drugs, the quantities
of the drug that are at issue in the two Contracting States
concerned or the persons alleged to have been party to the acts
in the two States are not required to be identical;