Case C-375/07: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 20 November 2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden — Netherlands) — Staatssecretaris van Financiën v Heuschen & Schrouff Oriëntal Foods Trading BV (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Validity of a classification regulation — Interpretation of the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 1196/97 — Articles 220 and 239 of the Customs Code — Articles 871 and 905 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 — Dried sheets consisting of rice flour, salt and water — Tariff classification — Post-clearance recovery of import duties — Procedure for remission — Detectable error on the part of the customs authorities — Obvious negligence on the part of the importer)
Date: 2008-11-20
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Combined Nomenclature, cereal product, customs regulations, dried product, interpretation of the law

C 6/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

10.1.2009

2. Dismisses the action as to the remainder;

3. Orders the Commission of

the European Communities and the

Republic of Poland to bear their own costs.

(1) OJ C 199, 25.8.2007.

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 13 November
2008 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil
d'État — Belgium) — Coditel Brabant SPRL v Commune
d'Uccle, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale

(Case C-324/07) (1)

(Public procurement — Tendering procedures — Public service
concessions — Concession for the operation of a municipal
cable television network — Award by a municipality to an
inter-municipal cooperative society — Obligation of transpar-
ency — Conditions — Whether the control exercised by the
is
concession-granting authority over

concessionaire

the

similar to that exercised over its own departments)

from awarding, without calling for competition, a public service
concession to an inter-municipal cooperative society of which all the
members are public authorities, where those public authorities exer-
cise over that cooperative society control similar to that exercised
over their own departments and where that society carries out the
essential part of its activities with those public authorities;

2. Subject to verification of the facts by the referring court as regards
the degree of independence enjoyed by the inter-municipal coopera-
tive society in question, in circumstances such as those of the case
before the referring court, where decisions regarding the activities of
an inter-municipal cooperative society owned exclusively by public
authorities are taken by bodies, created under the statutes of that
society, which are composed of
the affiliated
public authorities, the control exercised over those decisions by the
public authorities may be regarded as enabling those authorities to
exercise over the cooperative society control similar to that exercised
over their own departments;

representatives of

3. Where a public authority joins an inter-communal cooperative of
which all the members are public authorities in order to transfer to
that cooperative society the management of a public service, it is
possible, in order for the control which those member authorities
exercise over the cooperative to be regarded as similar to that which
they exercise over their own departments,
for it to be exercised
jointly by those authorities, decisions being taken by a majority, as
the case may be.

(2009/C 6/10)

Language of the case: French

(1) OJ C 211, 8.9.2007.

Referring court

Conseil d'État

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Coditel Brabant SPRL

Defendant: Commune d'Uccle, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale

Third party: Société Intercommunale pour la Diffusion de la Télé-
vision (Brutélé)

Re:

Preliminary ruling — Conseil d'État — Interpretation of the
fundamental principles of primary Community law (principles
of non-discrimination and transparency) and of the exceptions
to those principles in the area of public service concessions —
Concession relating to the operation of a municipal television
network — Need for competitive tendering except in those
cases where the awarding authority exercises, over the conces-
sionaire, a control similar to that which it exercises over its own
departments and where the concessionaire performs the major
part of its activities with the authority which controls it

Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 20 November
2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Hoge
Raad der Nederlanden — Netherlands) — Staatssecretaris
van Financiën v Heuschen & Schrouff Oriëntal Foods
Trading BV

(Case C-375/07) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Validity of a classifica-
tion regulation — Interpretation of the Annex to Regulation
(EC) No 1196/97 — Articles 220 and 239 of the Customs
Code — Articles 871 and 905 of Regulation (EEC)
No 2454/93 — Dried sheets consisting of rice flour, salt and
water — Tariff classification — Post-clearance recovery of
import duties — Procedure for remission — Detectable error
on the part of the customs authorities — Obvious negligence
on the part of the importer)

(2009/C 6/11)

Language of the case: Dutch

Operative part of the judgment

1. Articles 43 EC and 49 EC, the principles of equal treatment and
of non-discrimination on grounds of nationality and the concomi-
tant obligation of transparency do not preclude a public authority

Referring court

Hoge Raad der Nederlanden

10.1.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 6/7

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Staatssecretaris van Financiën

Court of Justice of the European Communities for a preliminary
ruling as to validity.

Defendant: Heuschen & Schrouff Oriëntal Foods Trading BV

(1) OJ C 82, 14.4.2007.

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Hoge Raad der Neder-
landen — Interpretation of the Annex to Commission Regu-
lation (EC) No 1196/97 of 27 June 1997 concerning the classi-
fication of certain goods
in the Combined Nomenclature
(OJ 1997 L 170, p. 13), of Article 220(2)(b) of Council Regu-
lation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the
Community Customs Code (OJ 1992 L 302, p. 1), as amended
by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1677/98 of 29 July 1998
(OJ 1998 L 212, p. 18), and of Article 871(1) 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 Community Customs Code
(OJ 1993 L 253, p. 1) — Dried sheets consisting of rice flour,
salt and water — Tariff classification under heading 1905 of the
CN — Post-clearance recovery of customs duties — Error on
the part of the customs authorities which could not ‘reasonably
have been detected by the person liable for payment’ — Manda-
tory reference to the Commission

Operative part of the judgment

1. Sheets prepared from rice flour, salt and water which are then
dried, but do not undergo any heat
treatment, are covered by
in
subheading 1905 90 20 of
Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July
1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the
Common Customs Tariff, in the version resulting from Commission
Regulation (EC) No 1624/97 of 13 August 1997.

the Combined Nomenclature

2. Examination of the question referred has disclosed no factor of such
a kind as to affect the validity of Commission Regulation (EC)
No 1196/97 of 27 June 1997 concerning the classification of
certain goods in the combined nomenclature.

3. Where an application for

import duties has been
remission of
submitted to the Commission of the European Communities by a
Member State under Article 239 of Council Regulation (EEC)
No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community
Customs Code, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 82/97 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996,
and the Commission has already adopted a decision containing
assessments of fact and law in a particular case concerning import
transactions,
the
Member State to which that decision was addressed, in accordance
with Article 249 EC,
including the courts which have to assess
that case under Article 220 of that regulation.

such assessments bind all

the authorities of

the Commission of

If the importer has, within the period prescribed in the fifth para-
graph of Article 230 EC, brought an action for annulment of a
decision of
the European Communities in
respect of an application for remission of import duties pursuant to
Article 239 of that regulation, it is for the national court to decide
whether to stay the proceedings until a definitive decision has been
given in the action for annulment or to refer itself a question to the

Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 13 November
the European Communities v
2008 — Commission of

Efrosyni Alexiadou

(Case C-436/07 P) (1)

(Appeal — Arbitration clause — Contract concerning a tech-
nological development programme relating to the production
of water-repellent leather — Repayment of advance paid —
Interest)

(2009/C 6/12)

Language of the case: Greek

Parties

Appellant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: D. Triantafyllou, acting as Agent)

Other party to the proceedings: Efrosyni Alexiadou (represented by:
Ch. Matellas and E. Alexiadou, lawyers)

Re:

Appeal against the judgment of
the Court of First Instance
(Fourth Chamber) of 12 July 2007 in Case T-312/05 Commission
v Alexiadou [2007] ECR II-86, in which the Court dismissed an
action under an arbitration clause seeking an order that the
defendant reimburse the amount of the advance paid by the
Commission under a contract concerning a technological devel-
opment programme relating to the production of water-repel-
lent leather (Contract No G1ST-CT-2002-50227).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Sets aside the judgment of the Court of First Instance of the Euro-
pean Communities of 12 July 2007 in Case T-312/05 Commis-
sion v Alexiadou [2007], which was notified to the Commission
on 18 July 2007;

2. Orders that the case be referred back to the Court of First Instance

of the European Communities;

3. Orders that the costs be reserved.

(1) OJ C 269, 10.11.2007.