CELEX: 62008CA0161
Language: en
Date: 2009-05-14 00:00:00
Title: Case C-161/08: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 14 May 2009 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Hof van beroep te Antwerpen (Belgium)) — Internationaal Verhuis- en Transportbedrijf Jan de Lely BV v Belgische Staat (Free movement of goods — Community transit — Transport operations carried out under cover of a TIR carnet — Offences or irregularities — Notification period — Period within which proof must be furnished of the place where the offence or irregularity was committed)

4.7.2009   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 153/13
            
         Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 14 May 2009 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Hof van beroep te Antwerpen (Belgium)) — Internationaal Verhuis- en Transportbedrijf Jan de Lely BV v Belgische Staat
   (Case C-161/08) (1)
   
   (Free movement of goods - Community transit - Transport operations carried out under cover of a TIR carnet - Offences or irregularities - Notification period - Period within which proof must be furnished of the place where the offence or irregularity was committed)
   2009/C 153/25
   Language of the case: Dutch
   
      Referring court
   
   Hof van beroep te Antwerpen
   
      Parties to the main proceedings
   
   
      Applicant: Internationaal Verhuis- en Transportbedrijf Jan de Lely BV
   
      Defendant: Belgische Staat
   
      Re:
   
   Reference for a preliminary ruling — Hof van beroep te Antwerpen — Interpretation of Article 2 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1593/91 of 12 June 1991 providing for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 719/91 on the use in the Community of TIR carnets and ATA carnets as transit documents (OJ 1991 L 148, p. 11), read in conjunction with Article 11 of the TIR Convention — Offences or irregularities — Notification period
   
      Operative part of the judgment
   
   
               1.
            
            
               Article 2(1) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1593/91 of 12 June 1991 providing for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 719/91 on the use in the Community of TIR carnets and ATA carnets as transit documents, read in conjunction with Article 11(1) of the Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under Cover of TIR Carnets, signed in Geneva on 14 November 1975, must be interpreted as meaning that failure to comply with the period within which the holder of a TIR carnet is to be notified of its non-discharge does not have the consequence that the competent customs authorities forfeit the right to recover the duties and taxes due in respect of the international transport of goods made under cover of that carnet.
            
         
               2.
            
            
               Article 2(2) and (3) of Regulation No 1593/91, read in conjunction with Article 11(1) and (2) of the Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under Cover of TIR Carnets, signed in Geneva on 14 November 1975, must be interpreted as determining only the period within which proof is to be furnished of the regularity of the transport operation, and not the period within which proof must be provided as to the place where the offence or irregularity was committed. It is for the national court to determine, according to the principles of national law on evidence, whether, in the specific case before it and in the light of all the circumstances, that proof was furnished within the period prescribed. However, the national court must determine that period in compliance with Community law and, in particular, must take account of the fact, first, that the period must not be so long as to make it legally and materially impossible to recover the amounts due in another Member State, and, second, that that period must not make it materially impossible for the TIR carnet holder to furnish that proof.
            
         
      (1)  OJ C 183, 19.7.2008.