CELEX: C2003/007/17
Language: en
Date: 2003-01-11 00:00:00
Title: Case C-378/02: Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden by judgment of that Court of 18 October 2002 in the case of Waterschap Zeeuws Vlaanderen against Staatssecretaris van Financiën

C 7/10                  EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                        11.1.2003
            trade that approaches trade without restrictions in          Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Hoge Raad der
            so far as it is included in the system introduced by         Nederlanden by judgment of that Court of 18 October
            Regulation 1637/98, the import of bananas being              2002 in the case of Waterschap Zeeuws Vlaanderen
            regulated solely on the basis of a tariff quota;                           against Staatssecretaris van Financiën
      —     introduce a tariff quota for a total quantity of
            2 535 000 tonnes for third countries and for non-
            traditional ACP bananas and then allocate that tariff                                   (Case C-378/02)
            quota in percentage terms on the basis of a non-
            representative period, since the import of bananas
            in the period from 1994 to 1996 was already subject
            to restrictive conditions?
                                                                                                     (2003/C 7/17)
2.    Do the regulations referred to in paragraph 1 infringe
      Article 4 of the Framework Agreement of 23 April 1993
      between the European Economic Community and the
      Cartagena Group and its member countries inasmuch as
      by that agreement, the European Community undertook
      to have its relations with Ecuador governed by the
      provisions of GATT and to grant that country most-
      favoured-nation treatment?                                         Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
                                                                         European Communities by judgment of the Hoge Raad der
                                                                         Nederlanden (Supreme Court of the Netherlands) of 18 Octo-
                                                                         ber 2002, received at the Court Registry on 21 October 2002,
3.    Do the Commission regulations referred to in paragraph 1           for a preliminary ruling in the case of Waterschap Zeeuws
      infringe the principle of the protection of legitimate             Vlaanderen against Staatssecretaris van Financiën on the
      expectations and the principle of good faith in inter-             following questions:
      national public law and international customary law,
      inasmuch as the Commission has not fulfilled the obli-
      gations arising for the Community from GATT 1994, has
      misused legal procedures and has not taken account of              1.     Does a body governed by public law have, as regards a
      judicial proceedings and of the outcome of an inter-                      capital item acquired by it which it supplies for consider-
      national dispute settlement procedure inasmuch as,
                                                                                ation to a third party, in respect of which supply it must
      despite declarations made at the time of the adoption of                  be regarded as a taxable person, a right to adjust the
      Regulation No 1637/98, it has not established a system
                                                                                turnover tax paid in respect of that acquisition pursuant
      under which import licences for bananas are issued to
                                                                                to Article 20 (in particular paragraphs 2 and 3) of the
      ‘genuine importers’?                                                      Sixth Directive (1) in so far as it has used that item for
                                                                                activities in which it engages as a public authority under
                                                                                Article 4(5) of that directive?
4.    Has the Commission exceeded the authority given to it
      by Council Regulation No 404/93, as amended by
      Regulation No 1637/98, by adopting the tariff quota for
      the import of bananas while disregarding the obligations           2.     Does a body governed by public law have, under the
      which arise for the Community from GATT 1994 and                          Sixth Directive, the right wholly to exclude a capital item
      GATS or which must, where appropriate, be taken into                      used partly for activities engaged in as a taxable person
      account, because of its avowed intention to adapt the                     and partly for activities engaged in as a public authority
      regime for the import of bananas into the Community to                    from its capital assets, as the Court of Justice has ruled in
      the applicable WTO agreements, as a positive rule of law                  respect of taxable natural persons?
      to be integrated into Community law?
( 1) OJ L 47 [1993], p. 1.                                               (1 ) Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the
( 2) OJ L 210 [1998], p. 28.                                                  harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to
( 3) OJ L 293 [1998], p. 32.                                                  turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform
( 4) OJ L 349 [1998], p. 32.                                                  basis of assessment (OJ L 145 of 13.06.1977, p. 1).
( 5) OJ L 11 [1999], p. 16.
( 6) OJ L 75 [1999], p. 18.