Case C-67/23, W. GmbH: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 5 September 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof – Germany) – Criminal proceedings against S.Z. (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Common foreign and security policy – Restrictive measures in respect of Burma/Myanmar – Prohibition on the import of goods originating in or exported from Burma/Myanmar – Regulation (EC) No 194/2008 – Article 2(2)(a) – Teak logs originating in Burma/Myanmar exported to and processed in Taiwan before being transported to the European Union – Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 – Community Customs Code – Article 24 – Concept of substantial processing or working – Teak logs that have been debranched, debarked, sawn into the shape of wooden cuboids or cut into sawn teak wood in Taiwan – Certificate of origin issued by the Taiwanese authorities – Value of that certificate for the determination, by the customs authorities of the Member States, of the origin of those teak logs)
Date: 2024-09-05
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU restrictive measure, Myanmar/Burma, Taiwan, certificate of origin, economic sanctions, import restriction, international sanctions, tropical wood








C_202406058EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/6058


21.10.2024






Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 5 September 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof – Germany) – Criminal proceedings against S.Z.


(Case C-67/23,
                (1)
W. GmbH)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Common foreign and security policy - Restrictive measures in respect of Burma/Myanmar - Prohibition on the import of goods originating in or exported from Burma/Myanmar - Regulation (EC) No 194/2008 - Article 2(2)(a) - Teak logs originating in Burma/Myanmar exported to and processed in Taiwan before being transported to the European Union - Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 - Community Customs Code - Article 24 - Concept of ‘substantial processing or working’ - Teak logs that have been debranched, debarked, sawn into the shape of wooden cuboids or cut into sawn teak wood in Taiwan - Certificate of origin issued by the Taiwanese authorities - Value of that certificate for the determination, by the customs authorities of the Member States, of the origin of those teak logs)
(C/2024/6058)
Language of the case: German

Referring court

Bundesgerichtshof

Party in the main criminal proceedings

S.Z.

Intervening parties: W. GmbH, Generalbundesanwalt beim Bundesgerichtshof
Operative part of the judgment






1.


Article 2(2)(a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 194/2008 of 25 February 2008 renewing and strengthening the restrictive measures in respect of Burma/Myanmar and repealing Regulation (EC) No 817/2006, read in conjunction with Article 24 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code,
must be interpreted as meaning that:






—


debranching teak logs, debarking them and sawing them into the shape of wooden cuboids do not constitute processing or working operations that determine the origin of the goods obtained from those operations;










—


processing teak logs into sawn wood constitutes a processing or working operation that determines the origin of the goods obtained from that operation.














2.


The expression ‘exported from Burma/Myanmar’ in Article 2(2)(a)(ii) of Regulation No 194/2008
must be interpreted as meaning that that provision covers only goods that have been imported into the European Union directly from Burma/Myanmar.










3.


Article 2(2)(a)(i) of Regulation No 194/2008
must be interpreted as meaning that, when the customs authorities of the Member States examine whether that provision has been infringed, they are not bound by certificates of origin issued by a third country which state that the goods concerned originate in that country.






(1)  
            OJ C 155, 2.5.2023.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/6058/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)