Case C-395/17: Action brought on 30 June 2017 — European Commission v Kingdom of the Netherlands
Date: 2017-06-30
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Aruba, Curaçao, customs document, groat, import (EU), meal, originating product, own resources, powdered milk, rice








C_2017347EN.01000501.xml










16.10.2017   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 347/5





Action brought on 30 June 2017 — European Commission v Kingdom of the Netherlands
(Case C-395/17)
(2017/C 347/05)
Language of the case: Dutch

Parties


Applicant: European Commission (represented by: J.-F. Brakeland and A. Caeiros, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Kingdom of the Netherlands

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:






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declare that the Kingdom of the Netherlands has failed to comply with its obligations pursuant to Article 5 (subsequently Article 10) of the Treaty establishing the European Community (now Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union) in not compensating the loss of the amounts of own resources which had to be established and made available for the Union budget pursuant to Articles 2, 6, 10, 11 and 17 of Regulation 1552/1989 (1) (now Articles 2, 6, 10, 11 and 17 of Regulation 1150/2000 (2)) if no movement certificates EUR.1 were issued in breach of Article 101(1) of Council Decision 91/482 (3) and Article 12(6) of Annex II to that decision for the import of milk powder and rice from Curacao in the period 1997-2000, Article 35(1) of Council Decision 2001/822 (4) and Article 15(4) of Annex III to that decision respectively for the import of groats and meal from Aruba in the period 2002-2003;










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order the Kingdom of the Netherlands to pay the costs.





Pleas in law and main arguments

The customs authorities of Curacao and Aruba, two overseas countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, wrongly issued certificates of origin EUR.1 for milk powder, rice, groats and meal. It is indeed undisputed that the conditions for according preferential status under the relevant decisions concerning the association of the overseas countries and territories with the European Economic Community were not met. The irregularities in the certificates led to a loss of own resources for the Union of EUR 18 192 641,95 for the administrative errors in Curacao and of EUR 298 080 for the administrative errors in Aruba.
The Commission is of the view that the Netherlands, as Member State, is responsible under EU law for this loss of own resources caused by its subregions, and that, under the obligation of loyal cooperation, the Netherlands must make the total amount of unestablished and uncollected customs duties and charges (plus rent) available to the EU budget.


(1)  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).

(2)  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).

(3)  Council Decision 91/482/EEC of 25 July 1991 on the association of the overseas countries and territories with the European Economic Community (OJ 1991 L 263, p. 1).

(4)  Council Decision 2001/822/EC of 27 November 2001 on the association of the overseas countries and territories with the European Community (‘Overseas Association Decision’) (OJ 2001 L 314, p. 1).