CELEX: C1999/086/15
Language: en
Date: 1999-03-27 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 26 January 1999 by the Commission of the European Communities against Aiolika Parka Sitias A.E. (Case C-18/99)

C 86/8                EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                   27.3.1999
at the Court Registry on 20 January 1999, for a                      with an address for service in Luxembourg at the Office of
preliminary ruling in the case of Hans Sommer GmbH &                 Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, of its Legal Service, Wagner
Co v. Hauptzollamt Bremen on the following questions:                Centre, Kirchberg.
1. Are expenses' or handling costs' relating to honey
     imported from the USSR from 1989 to 1991 charged                The Commission claims that the Court sholud:
     by the German import company to the purchaser
     pursuant to separate contractual arrangements part of
     the transaction value under Article 3(1) of Council             Ð order the defendant to refund to the Commission all
     Regulation (EEC) No 1224/80 of 28 May 1988 on the                   the financing which it has received from the
     valuation of goods for customs purposes (OJ L 134,                  Community, namely to pay the entire amount of the
     31.8.1980, p. 1), as ameded by Regulation (EEC)                     debt of ECU (now EUR) 350 641,99 together with
     No 3193/80 (OJ L 333, 11.12.1980, p. 1), if after                   interest calculated in accordance with the provisions of
     importation the import company must take samples                    the agreement amounting, up until 31 December 1998,
     for establishing the quality of the honey in accordance             to ECU (now EUR) 49 129,18, that is to say a total
     with the German Honey Regulation and provide the                    amount of ECU (now EUR) 399 771,17, and
     results of the chemical analyses?                                   additionally interest at 2 % above the rate of the
                                                                         European Monetary Cooperation Fund in respect of
                                                                         the period from 1 January 1999 until the defendant
2. If question 1 is answered in the affirmative:                         has fully discharged its debt;
     Is Commission Decision K(95) 2325 of 28 September
     1995 null and void?                                             Ð order the defendant to pay the Commission's general
                                                                         legal costs including the fees of its authorised lawyers.
3. If question 2 is answered in the affirmative:
                                                                     Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
     Must the authorities refrain from post-clearance
     recovery of duties pursuant to Article 5(2) of Council
     Regulation (EEC) No 1697/79 if, upon an external                The objects of the defendant company are the design,
     check concerning imports in an earlier period and               construction, installation, operation and supervision of
     following a check review, they raised no objection to           apparatus for the exploitation of wind energy in order to
     the fact that a global sum for expenses was not                 produce and sell electric current.
     included in the customs value in the case of similar
     purchase transactions and it is not clear that the trader
     could have been in doubt as to whether the result of            The action, which has been brought pursuant to an
     the check was right?                                            arbitration clause, seeks the refund of financial assistance
                                                                     granted by the Commission to the defendant for the
4. If question 3 is answered in the negative:                        realisation and demonstration of a pilot wind-energy
                                                                     programme under which a wind farm was to be installed
                                                                     on the south-east cost of Crete in the area of Sitia. The
     Do the circumstances set out in question 3 amount               Commission decided to terminate the contract entered into
     to special circumstances' within the meaning of                by the parties under English law, on the ground that the
     Article 13 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1430/79               defendant had infringed its obligations.
     justifying the remission of import duties?
Action brought on 26 January 1999 by the Commission of               Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Supremo Tribu-
the European Communities against Aiolika Parka Sitias                nal Administrativo, Second Chamber, by judgment of that
                             A.E.                                    Court of 9 December 1998, in the case of Modelo Conti-
                        (Case C-18/99)                                          nente, SGPS, SA and Fazenda PuÂblica
                        (1999/C 86/15)                                                      (Case C-19/99)
                                                                                            (1999/C 86/16)
An action against Aiolika Parka Sitias A.E. was brought
before the Court of Justice of the European Communities
on 26 January 1999 by the Commission of the European                 Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
Communities, represented by Richard Wainwright,                      European Communities by an judgment of the Second
Principal Legal Adviser, and Olivier Couvert-CasteÂra, a             Chamber of the Supremo Tribunal Administrativo
civil servant on secondment to its Legal Service under the           (Supreme Administrative Court) of 9 December 1998,
scheme for national experts, assisted by Maria Bra, of the           which was received at the Court Registry on 28 January
Brussels Bar, and Kiriaki Kapoutzidou, of the Athens Bar,            1999, for a preliminary ruling in the case of Modelo Con-