Case C-206/24, Caves Andorranes: Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 1 August 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de cassation – France) – YX, Logística i Gestió Caves Andorranes i Vidal SA v Ministre de l’Économie, des Finances et de la Relance, Directeur général des douanes et droits indirects (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Customs union – Repayment or remission of import or export duties – Regulation (EEC) No 1430/79 – Customs duties collected in infringement of EU law – Third subparagraph of Article 2(2) – Conditions for repayment on their own initiative – Finding that those duties were wrongly collected before the expiry of a period of three years from the date on which they were entered in the accounts – Finding that the national customs authorities are aware of the identity of the operators concerned and of the amount to be repaid to each of them – Obligation on those authorities to take the necessary and appropriate measures to obtain the information necessary to make such repayment)
Date: 2025-08-01
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: customs drawback, customs duties, customs regulations, customs union, infringement of EU law, remission of export duties








C_202505188EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/5188


6.10.2025






Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 1 August 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de cassation – France) – YX, Logística i Gestió Caves Andorranes i Vidal SA v Ministre de l’Économie, des Finances et de la Relance, Directeur général des douanes et droits indirects


(Case C-206/24,
                (1)
Caves Andorranes)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Customs union - Repayment or remission of import or export duties - Regulation (EEC) No 1430/79 - Customs duties collected in infringement of EU law - Third subparagraph of Article 2(2) - Conditions for repayment on their own initiative - Finding that those duties were wrongly collected before the expiry of a period of three years from the date on which they were entered in the accounts - Finding that the national customs authorities are aware of the identity of the operators concerned and of the amount to be repaid to each of them - Obligation on those authorities to take the necessary and appropriate measures to obtain the information necessary to make such repayment)
(C/2025/5188)
Language of the case: French

Referring court

Cour de cassation

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicants: YX, Logística i Gestió Caves Andorranes i Vidal SA

Defendants: Ministre de l’Économie, des Finances et de la Relance, Directeur général des douanes et droits indirects

Operative part of the judgment

The third subparagraph of Article 2(2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1430/79 of 2 July 1979 on the repayment or remission of import or export duties, as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No 3069/86 of 7 October 1986,
must be interpreted as meaning that the existence of an obligation on a national customs authority to repay customs duties on its own initiative is subject to the fact that that authority has itself established, before the expiry of a period of three years from the entry in the accounts of those duties, that those duties have been wrongly collected, that finding implying that that authority is aware of the identity of the persons who paid those duties and of the amount to be repaid to each of them. Where that authority does not have, and could not have, at its disposal all of the information necessary to make such a repayment to the person who paid the customs duties wrongly collected or to the persons who succeeded him or her in his or her rights and obligations, it is for that authority, in order to comply with its repayment obligation, to take the measures which, without being disproportionate, are necessary and appropriate in order to obtain that information and to make the repayment.


(1)  OJ C, C/2024/3742.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/5188/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)