Case C-377/03: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 5 October 2006 — Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Belgium (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Communities' own resources — Undischarged TIR carnets — Failure or delay in paying the corresponding own resources)
Date: 2006-12-02
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Belgium, European Commission, Union transit, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, customs transit, deadline for payment, financial control, own resources, transport document

C 294/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

2.12.2006

Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 12 September
2006 — R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc., RJR Acqui-
sition Corp., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco International, Inc., Japan Tobacco, Inc.
v Philip Morris International
Inc., Commission of the
European Communities, European Parliament, Kingdom of
Spain, French Republic,
Italian Republic, Portuguese
Republic, Republic of Finland, Republic of Germany,
Hellenic Republic, Kingdom of the Netherlands

(Case C-131/03 P) (1)

(Appeal — Commission's decision to bring proceedings
before a court of a non-Member State — Action for annul-
ment — Inadmissible)

Operative part of the judgment

1. The appeal is dismissed.

2. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc., RJR Acquisition Corp., R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Company, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco International,
Inc., and Japan Tobacco, Inc., are ordered to pay the costs.

3. The Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Spain, the
French Republic, the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of the Nether-
lands, the Portuguese Republic, the Republic of Finland, the Euro-
pean Parliament and the Council of the European Union are to
bear their own costs.

(2006/C 294/02)

(1) OJ C 146, 21.06.2003.

Language of the case: English

Parties

Appellants: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc., RJR Acquisi-
tion Corp., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco International, Inc., Japan Tobacco, Inc.
(represented
by: P. Lomas, Solicitor, and O.W. Brouwer, Lawyer)

Other parties to the proceedings: Philip Morris International Inc.,
Commission of the European Communities (represented by: C.
Docksey, X. Lewis and C. Ladenburger, Agents), European
Parliament (represented by: H. Duintjer Tebbens and A. Baas),
Kingdom of Spain (represented by: N. Díaz Abad, Agent),
French Republic (represented by: G. de Bergues, Agent), Italian
Republic (represented by: I. Braguglia, Agent, and M. Fiorilli,
Lawyer), Portuguese Republic (represented by: L. Fernandes et
A. Seiça Neves, Agents), Republic of Finland (represented by:
T. Pynnä and A. Guimaraes-Purokoski, Agents), Republic of
Germany (represented by: M. Lumma and W.-D. Plessing,
Agents), Hellenic Republic, Kingdom of the Netherlands (repre-
sented by: J.G.M. van Bakel, Agent)

Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 5 October 2006
— Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom
of Belgium

(Case C-377/03) (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Commu-
nities' own resources — Undischarged TIR carnets — Failure
or delay in paying the corresponding own resources)

(2006/C 294/03)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Intervener in support of the Commission: Council of the European
Union (represented by: M. Bishop and T. Blanchet, Agents)

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: C. Giolito and G. Wilms, Agents)

Re:

Appeal brought against the judgment of the Court of First
Instance (Second Chamber, Extended Composition) of 15
January 2003 in Joined Cases T-377/00, T-379/00, T-380/00,
T-260/01 and T-272/01 Philip Morris International and Others v
Commission, by which it declared inadmissible the actions for
annulment of the Commission's decision to bring a civil action
against the appellants before a United States court following
their alleged involvement in smuggling cigarettes into the Euro-
pean Union, in order to obtain compensation for the financial
loss suffered by the Union and a court order that the smuggling
is to cease — Interpretation of Article 230 EC and the case-law
of the Court — Legal effects of the Commission's decision to
bring a civil action before a court of a non-Member State

Defendant: Kingdom of Belgium (represented by: E. Dominko-
vits, A. Goldman and M. Wimmer, Agents, B. van de Walle de
Ghelcke, Lawyer)

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Articles 6, 9,
10 and 11 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000
of 22 May 2000 implementing Decision 94/728/EC, Euratom
on the system of the Communities' own resources (OJ 2000 L
130, p. 1) — Default or delay in the payment of the own
resources to the Commission — Failure to comply with
accounting rules — Irregular release of certain transit docu-
ments (TIR carnets) by the Belgian customs authority

2.12.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 294/3

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Declares that by failing to enter in the accounts, or by making a
late entry in the accounts of, the own resources arising from the
TIR carnets which had not been discharged properly, by placing
them in the B accounts instead of entering them in the A
accounts, with the result that the relevant own resources were not
made available to the Commission of the European Communities
within the time-limits,

— by refusing to pay default interest on the amounts owing to

the Commission of the European Communities,

— the Kingdom of Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations
under Articles 6, 9, 10 and 11 of Council Regulation (EC,
Euratom) No 1150/2000 of 22 May 2000 implementing
Decision 94/728/EC, Euratom on the system of the Commu-
nities' own resources, which, with effect from 31 May 2000,
repealed and replaced 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, which had identical subject-matter;

2. Dismisses the remainder of the action;

3. Orders the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 264, 01.11.2003.

22 May 2000 implementing Decision 94/728/EC, Eurotom on
the system of the Communities' own resources (OJ 2000 L 130,
p. 1) — Late payment of the own resources where the debtor
pays in stages — Import duties

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1) Declares that, because of the late payment of own resources in the
case of receipt of payments in instalments from a debtor, the
Kingdom of Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations under Arti-
cles 10 and 11 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No
1150/2000 of 22 May 2000 implementing Decision
94/728/EC, Euratom on the system of the Communities' own
resources, which, with effect from 31 May 2000, repealed and
replaced 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, which was identical in
subject-matter;

2) Dismisses the remainder of the application;

3) Orders the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 264, 01.11.2003.

Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 5 October 2006
— Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom
of Belgium

Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 3 October
2006 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Commis-
sione tributaria provinciale di Cremona — Italy) — Banca
popolare di Cremona Soc. coop. arl v Agenzia Entrate
Ufficio Cremona

(Case C-378/03) (1)

(Case C-475/03) (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Commu-
nities' own resources — Payment in instalments by the
debtor — Recovery)

(2006/C 294/04)

Language of the case: French

(Sixth VAT Directive — Article 33(1) — Prohibition on the
levying of other domestic taxes which can be characterised as
turnover taxes — Definition of ‘turnover taxes’ — Italian
regional tax on productive activities)

(2006/C 294/05)

Language of the case: Italian

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: G. Wilms and C. Giolito, Agents)

Referring court

Defendant: Kingdom of Belgium (represented by: E. Dominko-
vits and A. Goldman, Agents and B. van de Walle de Ghelcke,
avocat,)

Commissione tributaria provinciale di Cremona

Re:

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Banca popolare di Cremona Soc. coop. arl

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Articles 6, 10
and 11 of Council Regulation (EC, Eurotom) No 1150/2000 of

Defendant: Agenzia Entrate Ufficio Cremona