CELEX: C1995/137/66
Language: en
Date: 1995-06-03 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 3 March 1995 by Günzler Aluminium GmbH against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-75/95)

No C 137/28          I EN |                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                      3 . 6 . 95
Action brought on 28 February 1995 by Euroc AB against                 2 . order the Commission to make a fresh decision, taking
       the Commission of the European Communities                          into account the legal opinion of the Court, on the
                        ( Case T-71/95 )                                   application by Germany of 2 May 1994 for a decision by
                                                                           the Commission concerning the repayment or remission
                          ( 95/C 137/65 )                                  of import or export duties .
                 (Language of the case: English)
An action against the Commission of the European                       Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
Communities was brought before the Court of First
Instance of the European Communities on 28 February
1995 by Euroc AB, represented by Nicholas Forwood Q.C.                 The applicant, a German limited liability company which
and John Cook with an address for service in Luxembourg                markets aluminium and imports it on an occasional basis,
at the chambers of Ernest Arendt, 8-10 Rue Mathias Hardt,              challenges the Commission Decision of 14 November 1994
BP39, L-2101 Luxembourg.                                               refusing remission of duty on the importation of aluminium
                                                                       from Yugoslavia.
The applicant claims that the Court should :
— annul the Commission Decision of 20 November                         Im May and June 1990, the applicant imported certain
     1994 ( J ) wholly or alternatively in part in so far as it        quantities of aluminium, having agreed with the Yugoslav
     relates to the applicant,                                         exporter that the latter would bear all duties that might be
                                                                       levied, and would do so by means of a reduction in the sale
— cancel, or alternatively reduce, the fine imposed by                 price . The competent German customs authority cleared the
     Article 9 , and                                                   aluminium for free circulation without charging duty, and
                                                                       on the basis of that determination, which was neither
                                                                       provisional nor subject to verification, the applicant paid the
— award the cost of the application to the applicant.
                                                                       sale price to the Yugoslav importer without deduction.
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
                                                                       After receiving two demands in May and July 1992 for the
The pleas in law and main arguments are similar to those               back payment of customs duty, the applicant attempted —
raised in case T-70/95 .
                                                                       unsuccessfully, because of the civil war which had just
                                                                       broken out in Yugoslavia — to contact the Yugoslav
(M OJ No L 343 , 30 . 12 . 1994 , p . 1 to 158 .                       exporter . The reason given for the back payment demands
                                                                       was that the aluminium in question had been imported after
                                                                       the exhaustion of a customs quota granted to Yugoslavia
                                                                       and the consequent reintroduction of the Common
                                                                       Customs Tariff.
Action brought on 3 March 1995 by Giinzler Aluminium                   The applicant pleads the existence of 'special circumstances'
GmbH against the Commission of the European                            within the meaning of Article 13 ( 1 ) of Regulation ( EEC )
                           Communities                                 No 1430/79 , arguing that the reason it did not deduct the
                        ( Case T-75/95 )                               amount corresponding to the duties owed was the initial
                                                                       determination by the German customs authorities.
                          ( 95/C 137/66 )
                 (Language of the case: German)                        Moreover, the two demands for payment of back duty were
                                                                       issued, respectively, one year after and two years after the
An action against the Commission of the European                       publication in the Official Journal of the reintroduction of
Communities was brought before the Court of First                      the Common Customs Tariff. Since the applicant carried
Instance of the European Communities on 3 March 1995 by                out import transactions on an occasional basis only, it could
Giinzler Aluminium GmbH, of Ostfildern ( Germany),                     not be expected to have greater knowledge and practical
represented by Jiirgen Strauss ( Rechtsanwalt) of Stuttgart            experience than the authorities competent for the area in
( Germany ).                                                           question.
The applicant claims that the Court should :
 1 . annul      Commission      Decision      REM      16/94   of
      14 November 1994 ;