Case C-284/05: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 15 December 2009 — European Commission v Republic of Finland (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Duty-free imports of military equipment)
Date: 2009-12-15
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: CCT duties, European Commission, Finland, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, military equipment, own resources








C_2010051EN.01000201.xml










27.2.2010   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 51/2





Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 15 December 2009 — European Commission v Republic of Finland
(Case C-284/05) (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations - Duty-free imports of military equipment)
2010/C 51/02
Language of the case: Finnish

Parties


Applicant: European Commission (represented by: G. Wilms and P. Aalto, Agents)

Defendant: Republic of Finland (represented by: T. Pynnä, E. Bygglin, J. Heliskoski and A. Guimaraes-Purokoski, Agents)

Interveners in support of the defendant: Kingdom of Denmark (represented by: J. Molde, Agent), Federal Republic of Germany (represented by: M. Lumma and U. Forsthoff, Agents), Hellenic Republic (represented by: E.-M. Mamouna and K. Boskovits, Agents), Italian Republic (represented by: I. M. Braguglia, Agent, G. De Bellis, avvocato dello Stato), Portuguese Republic (represented by: L. Inez Fernandes, Agent), Kingdom of Sweden (represented by: A. Falk, Agent)

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Breach of 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 (OJ 1989 L 155, p. 1) and, for the period after 31 May 2000, 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) — Duty-free imports of military equipment and goods for dual military and civil use

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Declares that the Republic of Finland has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 26 EC, Article 20 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code and, consequently, the Common Customs Tariff by exempting imports of military equipment from customs duties in the period from 1998 until 2002 and has also failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 2 and Articles 9 to 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, as amended by Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1355/96 of 8 July 1996, and the same articles 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, by refusing to calculate, declare and to make available to the European Commission the own resources relating thereto and by refusing to pay default interest payable because of the failure to make those own resources available to the European Commission;










2.


Orders the Republic of Finland to pay the costs;










3.


Orders the Kingdom of Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Hellenic Republic, the Italian Republic, the Portuguese Republic and the Kingdom of Sweden to bear their own costs.






(1)  OJ C 271, 29.10.2005.